Contribution of students to nursing practice settings during clinical training: Design and validation of a questionnaire.

BACKGROUND A validated questionnaire to measure the contributions of nursing students to clinical settings could potentially assist in the improved management of students in healthcare institutions. AIM To develop and test the psychometric properties of the questionnaire 'Nursing Student Contributions to Clinical Settings' (CEEEC, Spanish acronym for 'Contribuciones de los Estudiantes de Enfermeria a los Entornos Clinicos'). DESIGN Instrument design and psychometric testing. PARTICIPANTS/SETTINGS A multicentre study involving 1,098 nursing professionals from three universities and five hospitals of Spain, between January 2019 and March 2020. METHODS The study was carried out in two phases. Phase 1 involved the questionnaire design by experts (n = 28), which required a review of the available literature, cognitive interviews and Delphi rounds, and a preliminary validity study, which included a pilot test with responses from a sample of nurses (n = 143). Phase 2 involved a formal validation with a wider sample of nurses (n = 927), including factor analysis and a study of convergent validity with the Practice Environment Scale-Nursing Work Index and Health Sciences-Evidence Based Practice. RESULTS Experts selected 42 items on student contributions. After cognitive interviews, three items were eliminated and seven failed to reach the minimum content validity index (78%). Based on the remaining 32 items, the discrimination index of each item was calculated, and those with <0.3, eight items were sequentially eliminated. The resulting questionnaire contained 24 items grouped into a single factor, which explained 41% of the variance. The internal consistency was excellent (Cronbach's alpha: 0.94), and the convergent validity was confirmed. CONCLUSIONS A 24-item questionnaire was designed and validated to measure the contributions of nursing students to clinical practice settings. IMPACT Most hospitals are also teaching centres where nursing students undergo clinical practice. The application of this test will provide insight into the nursing professionals' perception of the students' role.