Construct validity and reliability of the Spanish version of the undergraduate nursing student academic satisfaction...

No gold-standard instrument is currently available for assessing academic satisfaction among undergraduate nursing students.

To evaluate the construct validity and internal consistency reliability of the Spanish version of the Undergraduate Nursing Student Academic Satisfaction Scale.

A cross-sectional validation study was conducted among third- and fourth-year nursing students at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Structural validity was assessed through item factor analysis within a common-factor framework, using a polychoric correlation matrix for the primary analyses. A unidimensional model and the original four-factor structure were evaluated as a priori models, and an exploratory three-factor solution was additionally examined, guided by parallel analysis. Internal consistency reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega. Hypotheses testing for construct validity was conducted using the total score and factor scores across gender, academic year, and campus. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (Code: 2023-499-1). Study registration: Not registered.

A total of 226 students participated. Sampling adequacy was good, and Bartlett's test of sphericity was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The a priori unidimensional model showed poorer fit than the multidimensional solutions. The original four-factor target solution showed good fit, supporting the multidimensionality of the scale. The exploratory three-factor solution, guided by parallel analysis, also showed acceptable fit. Internal consistency was high for the exploratory three-factor solution, with alpha coefficients ranging from 0.900 to 0.947 and omega coefficients from 0.901 to 0.948. Exploratory hypotheses testing provided limited complementary evidence of construct validity: no relevant gender differences were observed, while limited differences were found according to academic year and campus.

The Spanish version of the Undergraduate Nursing Student Academic Satisfaction Scale showed evidence of multidimensionality, structural validity, and high internal consistency reliability in this sample. The original four-factor structure showed good fit as an a priori target solution, while the exploratory three-factor solution showed preliminary results. Further studies with larger and independent samples are needed to confirm the dimensional structure and to assess additional measurement properties.