The relationship between the sense of overcoming clinical practicums in basic nursing education and nursing competency

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the relationship between a newly developed scale—the Sense of Overcoming Practicums Scale (provisional name)—and nursing competency among novice nurses to examine the scale’s predictive validity. As a result, the scale was confirmed to have a three-factor structure and be reliable and valid. However, additional refinement will be needed as Factor 1 included a mixture of items from different constructs. The scale was found to have a significant positive correlation with nursing competency among novice nurses. Furthermore, the results of exploratory investigation by educational institution type revealed significant standardized partial regression coefficients (β) for positive evaluation of independence and self/others on competency among novice nurses who were vocational school and junior college graduates, and for independence and positive evaluation of self/others on competency among novice nurses who were four-year college graduates, respectively.