Nurse Competence Scale: psychometric assessment in the Italian context

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Psychometrics
• Healthcare Professional Development

Background:

• The Nurse Competence Scale (NCS) is crucial for assessing nursing clinical competence.
• Previous psychometric validation occurred internationally, but not in Italy, creating a need for an Italian version.
• Assessing NCS validity and reliability in Italy was a long-standing requirement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Nurse Competence Scale.
• To evaluate the internal construct validity of the adapted NCS for the Italian nursing context.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of data from 698 bachelor nursing students across two Italian universities.
• Internal consistency assessed using Cronbach's alpha and inter-item analysis.
• Construct validity evaluated via Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).

Main Results:

• The original 73-item NCS model was not confirmed in the Italian context, necessitating refinement.
• Exploratory Factor Analysis identified a new 58-item Italian NCS with seven dimensions.
• Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicated acceptable fit indices (e.g., RMSEA=0.069), and excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.922).

Conclusions:

• The refined 58-item, 7-dimension Italian NCS is suitable for self-assessing and comparing nursing competencies.
• This tool can enhance nursing educational environments and foster greater awareness of individual learning needs.
• The adapted scale provides a valuable resource for evaluating and developing nursing practice in Italy.