Psychometric evaluation of the ethical caring competency scale among Iranian Nurses: A methodological study

Area of Science:

• Nursing Ethics
• Healthcare Professional Competency
• Psychometric Validation

Background:

• Nurses encounter significant ethical challenges in diverse healthcare settings.
• Ethical caring competency is crucial for professional nursing practice.
• A validated tool was needed to assess ethical caring competency among Iranian nurses, considering their unique sociocultural and religious context.

Purpose of the Study:

• To culturally adapt the Ethical Caring Competency Scale (ECCS) for Iranian nurses.
• To psychometrically validate the Persian version of the ECCS.
• To assess the reliability and validity of the ECCS in the Iranian nursing context.

Main Methods:

• Methodological, cross-sectional study involving 697 registered nurses in Iran.
• Cultural adaptation followed WHO translation protocols, including forward-back translation, expert review, and pilot testing.
• Psychometric evaluation utilized Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA), and Random Forest Model (RFM) for construct validity, reliability, and measurement invariance across gender.

Main Results:

• The EFA revealed a four-factor structure explaining 52.80% of the variance.
• CFA confirmed adequate model fit with all indices meeting acceptable criteria.
• The scale demonstrated good convergent and divergent validity, with reliability coefficients above 0.7. Measurement invariance across gender was confirmed.

Conclusions:

• The Persian version of the ECCS possesses acceptable psychometric properties and a stable structure.
• The scale is culturally sensitive and exhibits good discriminant validity for ethical caring competency components.
• The validated Persian ECCS is suitable for assessing ethical caring competency among nurses in Iran.