Development of the Scale of Humanistic Care Competencies for Nursing Students

Abstract

Humane care refers to an approach that focuses on people, considers individual differences, and aims to provide ideal care, regardless of the needs of the individual. This approach can also be called the “humanistic approach”. While nurses are among the main practitioners of this understanding, nursing students should also receive education in this direction. The aim of the study conducted in this direction is to develop a scale to assess the humane care competencies of nursing students and to test the validity of this scale. The research was carried out with a methodological design and a total of 323 nursing students were included in the study. The item pool created for the developed scale was first presented to expert opinion; then, a 5-point Likert-type scale consisting of 33 items was applied to the students. The data were evaluated using content validity analysis, factor analysis, and Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient. As a result of Exploratory Factor Analysis, six items were removed from the scale and the scale was structured in five sub-dimensions with 27 items. The overall Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was found to be 0.922; the alpha values for the sub-dimensions were calculated as 0.756, 0.826, 0.840, 0.848, and 0.887, respectively. These results reveal that the “Human Care Competency Scale for Nursing Students” is a valid and reliable measurement tool.

Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT06695390