Development and psychometric properties testing of the Non-Cognitive Skills Scale for nursing students

BACKGROUND

Non-cognitive skills are crucial for nursing students to achieve their academic performance successfully and perform clinical practice effectively. Although different non-cognitive assessment tools have been established in various disciplines, few are focused on nursing students.

OBJECTIVE

The study aims to develop and psychometrically validate the Non-Cognitive Skills Scale (NCSS) for nursing students.

DESIGN

Qualitative and quantitative research design.

SETTING

One university in Singapore.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 347 nursing educators and students participated in this study.

METHODS

A two-phase design was used. In the first phase, focus group discussions and literature reviews were conducted to generate the preliminary items of the NCSS. Content validity was established with an expert panel of 10 members, and the tool was pilot tested on 20 students. In the second phase, the number of items was reduced based on correlation coefficients and factor loading. The psychometric properties of the NCSS were tested on survey responses from 300 students. The Brief Resilience Scale, Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, and Big Five Inventory-10 were used to investigate concurrent and convergent validity.

RESULTS

A 39-item six-factor NCSS was developed with satisfactory model fit indices (χ2/df: 1.60, IFI: 0.92, TLI: 0.90, CFI: 0.92 and RMSEA: 0.05). Content validity was confirmed with a content validity index of 0.90. A pilot test was conducted to improve readability and clarity. Known-group validity discriminated against age and gender group differences in a predictable way. Concurrent validity and convergent validity were confirmed with acceptable correlation coefficients. Cronbach's α was 0.91, and test-retest reliability was 0.84.

CONCLUSIONS

The NCSS is a reliable and valid tool for assessing the non-cognitive attributes of nursing students. This scale can be considered an admission tool for selecting the suitability of nursing applicants for nursing programmes. Further validation of NCSS is needed using a longitudinal study design in multiple settings across countries.

Spotlight on noncognitive skills: Views from nursing students and educators

BACKGROUND

Noncognitive skills have a considerable role in influencing nursing students' performance in clinical and educational settings. Understanding how nursing students and educators perceive noncognitive skills is important given the broad classifications of noncognitive competencies.

OBJECTIVE

This study sought to examine nursing students' and educators' perception of noncognitive skills.

DESIGN

This study adopted a descriptive qualitative approach.

SETTING

This study was conducted virtually via Zoom in one university in Singapore.

PARTICIPANTS

Purposive sampling through a maximum variation technique was used to select 35 nursing students and 12 educators.

METHODS

Semistructured interviews were conducted through eight virtual face-to-face focus group discussions. Interviews were audio- and videorecorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed through thematic analysis.

RESULTS

The participants stated that individual and interpersonal skills contribute to one's noncognitive skills. Two themes emerged from the participants' narratives: (1) the ability to manage oneself and (2) social interactions with others. The first theme describes the various individual characteristics such as growth mindset, adaptability, resilience, and emotional regulation. The second theme describes the importance of empathy and meaningful relationships as types of non-cognitive skills.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study provide the basis for the development of noncognitive assessment tools by educators. In addition, they pave the foundation for the curation of future programs that promote the noncognitive skills of nursing students. Hospital-based educators may use these findings to curate suitable programs for improving the noncognitive abilities of nurses.

Path analysis of survivorship care needs, symptom experience, and quality of life among multiethnic cancer survivors

PURPOSE

Cancer survivors continue to experience issues that persist across the survivorship trajectory. This study aims to explore the relationship among survivorship care need, symptom experience, and quality of life (QoL) of multiethnic cancer survivors by using path analytic methods.

METHODS

Participants were recruited from an academic medical center in Singapore that provides inpatient and outpatient oncology and hematology service. The Cancer Survivor Unmet Needs measure, physical effects subscale of the Cancer Survivors' Survey of Needs tool, and a Global QoL 10-point Likert scale were used to identify survivorship care needs, symptom experience, and QoL. Descriptive statistics were used to compute sociodemographic information, total survivorship needs, symptom experienced, and quality of life scores. The symptom experience model was used as the hypothetical model. The Analysis of Moment Structure was used to conduct the path analysis to evaluate the relationship between survivorship care needs, symptom experience, and quality of life.

RESULTS

Older cancer survivors were more likely to have spent a longer duration having cancer. Males were unlikely to suffer from solid tumor malignancies. Survivors with solid tumor malignancies were less likely to require supportive care. Survivors who require more supportive care were more likely to have a greater symptom burden. Cancer survivors with more symptoms have poorer QoL. The findings from this study partially supported the symptom experience model.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings reveal that cancer survivors continue to experience symptoms across the survivorship trajectory. The results provide information for nurses during the planning and execution of survivorship care.

A Clinical Teaching Blended Learning Program to Enhance Registered Nurse Preceptors' Teaching Competencies: Pretest and Posttest Study

Background

Clinical nursing education provides opportunities for students to learn in multiple patient care settings, receive appropriate guidance, and foster the development of clinical competence and professionalism. Nurse preceptors guide students to integrate theory into practice, teach clinical skills, assess clinical competencies, and enhance problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Previous research has indicated that the teaching competencies of nurse preceptors can be transferred to students’ clinical learning to enhance their clinical competencies.

Objective

This study aimed to develop a clinical teaching blended learning (CTBL) program with the aid of web-based clinical pedagogy (WCP) and case-based learning for nurse preceptors and to examine the effectiveness of the CTBL program on nurse preceptors’ clinical teaching competencies, self-efficacies, attitudes toward web-based learning, and blended learning outcomes.

Methods

A quasi-experimental single-group pretest and posttest design was adopted. A total of 150 nurse preceptors participated in the CTBL program, which was conducted from September 2019 to December 2019. A set of questionnaires, including the clinical teaching competence inventory, preceptor self-efficacy questionnaire, attitudes toward web-based continuing learning survey, and e-learning experience questionnaire, was used to assess the outcomes before and after the CTBL program.

Results

Compared with the baseline, the participants had significantly higher total mean scores and subdomain scores for clinical teaching competence (mean 129.95, SD 16.38; P<.001), self-efficacy (mean 70.40, SD 9.35; P<.001), attitudes toward web-based continuing learning (mean 84.68, SD 14.76; P<.001), and blended learning outcomes (mean 122.13, SD 14.86; P<.001) after the CTBL program.

Conclusions

The CTBL program provides a comprehensive coverage of clinical teaching pedagogy and assessment strategies. The combination of the WCP and case-based approach provides a variety of learning modes to fit into the diverse learning needs of the preceptors. The CTBL program allows the preceptors to receive direct feedback from the facilitators during face-to-face sessions. Preceptors also gave feedback that the web-based workload is manageable. This study provides evidence that the CTBL program increases the clinical teaching competencies and self-efficacies of the preceptors and promotes positive attitudes toward web-based learning and better blended learning outcomes. The health care organization can consider the integration of flexible learning and intellect platforms for preceptorship education.