Assessing the content validity of the Nursing Students’ Ethical Behavior Self-Evaluation Scale in Nursing Practice

Abstract

[Purpose] This study aimed to examine the validity of the Nursing Students’ Ethical Behavior Self-Evaluation Scale in Nursing Practice. [Method] Interviews were conducted with nursing students, clinical instructors, and the nursing faculty, and 55 items were created based on five representative concepts: “Building mutual relations based on respect” (19 items), “Protection of patients’ rights” (10 items), “Responsible nursing practice” (11 items), “Improving nursing practice by team collaboration” (5 items), and “Learning attitude that is aware of responsibility” (10 items). In June-September 2017, the 55-item scale was administered to 10 participants with more than 5 years of clinical experience as nurses, a master’s degree, and experience of teaching in nursing colleges. A self-administered questionnaire survey was distributed by mail to examine the validity of the content using the item-level content validity index (I-CVI). A four-point Likert scale was used to determine the relationship between the items and concepts. [Results] The I-CVI was calculated and items showing values of 0.78 or higher were included. Of the 55 items, 6 had an I-CVI less than 0.78. There were multiple open-ended opinions expressed concerning these 6 items. After excluding the 6 items with low I-CVI values, 49 items remained. [Conclusion] The content validity of the Nursing Students’ Ethical Behavior Self-Evaluation Scale in Nursing Practice was acceptable.