Development and psychometric testing of the reality shock scale for nursing students

The aim of this study is to develop the Reality Shock Scale for Nursing Students and test its psychometric properties.

Nursing education consists of theoretical and practical components. Nursing students who start their vocational training with some ideals and thoughts tend to feel the discrepancies between theoretical training and clinical practice more. While this tendency causes adaptation difficulties for students, it also leads them to be alienated from the profession at the beginning of their career.

This is an instrument development study.

The methodology of the study included the stages of literature review, focus group interviews, preliminary assessment of scale items, modifications, and psychometric assessment. The data were collected between 15 May 2023 and 30 December 2023 from 405 students nursing at two universities in Turkey.

The scale items were created based on the relevant literature and the outcomes of the focus group interviews. The content validity index value for the instrument was calculated as 0.98. The results of the exploratory factor analysis revealed a scale construct consisting of five factors and 29 items. It was seen that 66.851 % of the total variance in scale scores was explained by the factors. The confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the scale had an acceptable construct. Additionally, the scale had high reliability.

The scale which was created in this study and tested based on its psychometric features can be utilized as a valid and reliable measurement instrument to assess the reality shock experienced by nursing students.