Development of the Nursing Competency Inventory for Students Who Have Just Completed Basic Nursing Education in Japan

Abstract

〔Aim〕The aim of the present study is to assess the reliability and validity of a nursing competency scale for students who have just completed basic nursing education in college.

〔Method〕I have conducted a preliminary questionnaire investigation：I have asked 213 nursing students who have just completed basic nursing education by using a Likert-type questionnaire about 52 nursing behaviors, which were extracted and chosen qualitatively and inductively from the result of the literature review to make clear what ‘nursing competency’ is.

〔Result〕 I found that ‘nursing competency’ basically consisted of the following elements：‘professional, ethical and legal practices；care provision and management; and professional development’. And then I made an inventory consisting of twenty four items in six categories. Its Chronbach’s α showed 0.64 to 0.83 and Pearson’s r 0.35 to 0.66.

〔Discussion〕The nursing competency inventory I got from this study has been proved to be valid and reliable to some extent, which means that students’ nursing competency can be measured and estimated. Further investigation must be conducted to make the inventory highly reliable and valid.