Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of the Nursing Student Contributions to Clinical Settings scale and analysis of factors influencing nurses' perceptions of nursing students' contributions: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundMost medical organizations accept many nursing students each year who gain clinical practice skills under the supervision of clinical nurses. However, there are no assessment tools to measure the contributions nursing students make to the clinical setting during clinical practicum. This study aimed to translate the 'Nursing Student Contributions to Clinical Settings' scale into Chinese and test its reliability and validity from the perspective of Chinese clinical nurses. And to explore whether nurses' personal and professional characteristics are related to nurses' perception of nursing students' contributions to the clinical settings.MethodsThe original scale was translated into Chinese following the Brislin translation model. A convenience sample of 935 clinical nurses was selected from January to March 2024 for the survey. The content validity of the scale was assessed by expert consultation and content validity index. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed to assess the construct validity of the scale. The reliability of the scale was measured using internal consistency, split-half reliability, and test-retest reliability. The measurement quality of the scales was assessed according to the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments. One-way analysis of variance was used to identify variables related to students' contributions.ResultsThe content validity index of the scale was 0.983. Exploratory factor analysis supported a one-factor structure, and the cumulative variance contribution was 71.177%. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model fit indicators were all within the acceptable range. The McDonald's Omega coefficient and Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the scale were 0.983. Nurses perceive that nursing students' contribution to the clinical settings is influenced by nurses' personal characteristics, professional characteristics, and the hospital environment.ConclusionThe Chinese version of the Nursing Student Contributions to Clinical Settings scale has good reliability and validity and can effectively and reliably measure the contributions of Chinese nursing students to clinical settings.