The Development Of The Nurse-patient Communication Competence Rating Scale For Nursing Students

ObjectiveThe purpose of the research is to develop a Chinese rating scale to measure the nurse - patient communication competence of nursing students, and we will further confirm the scale is feasible in use and has good reliability and validity.MethodsBased on the essential elements from the Kalamazoo consensus statement, the original inventory was established by reviewing related literatures and consulting experts. After an evaluation of five experts in the field, the scale was revised and used in preliminary testing. Analysis of the testing was used to choose and revise the inventory. The final inventory was consisted of 43 items .42 items were classified into 6 dimensions according to similar qualities: to prepare for the interview(6 items) , to initiate the communication(7 items) , to gather information (11 items) , to share information (6 items) , to elicit and understand the patient's perspective (6 items) and to close the interview (6 items). Item 43 was the general evaluation by the faculties. 149 nursing students who were in the first and the second affiliated hospitals of China Medical University for their clinical practice were rated by the clinical faculties based on the rating scale developed in this study. All quantitative data of the questionnaire survey was analyzed by SPSS 11.5 for testing the reliability and validity of the scale. The statistical analysis methods included the internal consistency, the test — retest reliability,correlation analysis and factor analysis, et al.Results1. Reliability of the scaleThe inventory had satisfying reliability. For the overall scale Cronbach'a coefficient was 0. 953 ,the Cronbach'a coefficient of the 6 dimensions was 0. 828 ~0. 953;the split - scale reliability coefficient was 0. 829 ~0.965. The test -retest correlation coefficient of the scale was 0. 790 ~0. 904.2. Validity of the scaleThe content validity index (CVI) for each dimension was 0. 87 ~ 1. 00, while for the overall scale it was 0. 92. The correlation analysis indicated that the structure of the scale was excellent. The method of principle components was used for factor analysis, 6 factors were extracted on the standard that eigenvalues is over 1. Loading for each factor was greater than 0. 3, indicating that the structure of the scale was matching with the theoretical constructions.ConclusionsThe scale developed in the study has good reliability and validity. It is a-vailable to measure students' nurse - patient communication level, to find the students' shortages in the field and to facilitate the teaching and learning in the areas of nurse - patient communication.