Turkish Adaptation and Psychometric Characteristics of the Nurse Professional Competence Scale-Short Version Among Nursing Students: Methodological Study.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

This study aimed to adapt the Nurse Professional Competence Scale-Short Form (NPC-SF) into Turkish and evaluate its validity and reliability study for nursing students.

Design

A methodological study was designed.

Methods

The study was conducted with 181 senior nursing students using a convenience sampling method from March 2021 to November 2021. Language adaptation was conducted using translation and back-translation. Content validity was assessed using expert approval. Construct validity was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. Convergent and discriminant validity were applied. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, the test-retest reliability and Bland-Altman Method.

Results

The mean Content Validity Index of the items in the total scale was 0.98. Confirmatory factor analysis identified 21 items, which could be categorised under five factors (Nursing Care, Value-based Nursing Care, Medical and Technical Care, Documentation and Administration of Nursing Care, Development, Leadership and Organization of Nursing Care). The scale preserved its original structure, but one sub-dimension (Care Pedagogy) was removed from the scale. The fit indices of TR-NPC-SF are χ²/SD 1.928, GFI 0.928, NFI 0.964, NNFI 0.956, CFI 0.964, RMSEA 0.072 and SRMR 0.040. The five-factor model achieved a good fit according to confirmatory factor analysis. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of the Turkish version of the NPC-SF (TR-NPC-SF) was 0.974.

Conclusion

TR-NPC-SF is a valid and reliable tool with good psychometric properties. This scale can be used to evaluate nursing students' self-assessed professional competence. Nurse managers and educators can also use TR-NPC-SF to improve nurses' competence and identify their competence gaps.

Patient or public contribution

No patient or public contribution.

SUBMITTER: Basaran-Acil S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12705335 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature