Test sensitivity in assessing competencies in nursing education

IF 1.6 Q2 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training Pub Date : 2022-04-27 DOI:10.1186/s40461-022-00131-9

Eveline Wittmann, Ulrike Weyland, Susan Seeber, Julia Warwas, Aldin Striković, Philine Krebs, Monja Pohley, Larissa Wilczek

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

The identification of effects of vocational education and training conditions on competence development in nursing education requires longitudinal studies. An important precondition is the availability of a test of nursing competence which is economical in use, measures a homogeneous construct throughout years of nursing education and across nursing specializations, and can detect increases in the required competence, hence allowing for sensitive testing. This article describes a cross-sectional study that aimed to optimize a computer-based test measuring nursing competence in care for the elderly—the TEMA test—through the selection of items on the basis of measurement error, differential item functioning, and item difficulty. Evidence of the test sensitivity of the optimized TEMA-L instrument is presented for the second and third year of nursing education. The total sample consisted of n = 133 German nursing students from clinical and geriatric nursing. The resulting instrument includes two test booklets consisting of 36 (WLE = 0.72) and 35 items (WLE = 0.70) respectively for the second and third year of training. The cross-sectional data indicate that the test likely has good properties for sensitive testing of nursing competence in a future longitudinal study. Hence, it might be used to study factors contributing to increases in nursing competence in German VET and serve as an example for similar studies in other countries. Limitations of the current study and related subjects of future research are discussed.

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测试敏感性评估护理教育能力

确定职业教育和培训条件对护理教育能力发展的影响需要进行纵向研究。一个重要的先决条件是护理能力测试的可用性，这种测试在使用上是经济的，测量贯穿多年护理教育和跨护理专业的同质结构，并且可以检测所需能力的增加，从而允许敏感测试。本文描述了一项横断面研究，旨在通过基于测量误差、差异项目功能和项目难度的项目选择来优化基于计算机的老年人护理能力测试- TEMA测试。优化后的TEMA-L仪器在护理教育二年级和三年级的测试灵敏度的证据。总样本包括n = 133名来自临床和老年护理专业的德国护生。所得到的仪器包括两份测试手册，分别由36个(WLE = 0.72)和35个(WLE = 0.70)组成，分别用于第二年和第三年的培训。横断面数据表明，该测试可能在未来的纵向研究中具有良好的敏感性测试护理能力。因此，本研究可用于研究德国职业技术教育专业护理能力提高的因素，并可作为其他国家类似研究的范例。讨论了当前研究的局限性和未来研究的相关课题。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training Social Sciences-Education

CiteScore

3.40

自引率

7.70%

发文量

审稿时长

13 weeks

期刊介绍： The main focus of this journal is to provide a platform for original empirical investigations in the field of professional, vocational and technical education, comparing the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of different vocational education systems at the school, company and systemic level. The journal fills a gap in the existing literature focusing on empirically-oriented academic research and stimulating the interest in strengthening the vocational part of the educational system, both at the basic and higher education level.