Empowerment of Nursing Students in Clinical Practice: Study of Construct Aimed at Development of Measuring Scales

Abstract

Purpose: To clarify the construct of empowerment of nursing students in clinical practice with reference to the CLEQ (The Conditions for Learning Effectiveness Questionnaire) scale developed by Siu et al. (2005), as the first step of scale development.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six 4th-year nursing students then categorized by content analysis.

Results: Through comparison with the CLEQ scale construct, it was confirmed that, in addition to the “support,” “opportunity,” “resources” and “information” subscales, “an environment that gives peace of mind” and “relationship with patients” were newly clarified as an important element.

Conclusion: “An environment that gives peace of mind” and “relationship with patients” are characteristics in order to demonstrate the empowerment of Japanese nursing students in clinical practice, and it was suggested that these aspects should be included in the construct of empowerment of nursing students in future scale development.