A pilot study to assess validity and reliability of newly developed “Clinical Competence Self Assessment Tool (CCSAT)”

Introduction: Despite, Shortage of nurses globally and increased absorption of inexperienced nursing graduates in hospitals, there is scarcity of reliable and valid tools to assess their clinical competence. Aim: Pilot testing of clinical competence self assessment tool. Materials and Methods: A Clinical Competence Self Assessment Tool (CCSAT) with 94 items was developed based on literature review and Delphi consensus. It had three subscales- professional behavior, knowledge and skills. It was applied on 200 upcoming nursing graduates. Cronbach's alpha and exploratory factor analysis was used to assess internal consistency and validity. Results: The KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin for sampling adequacy) value for all three subscales was > 0.83 and Bartlett's test of sphericity values < 0.00. All subscales achieved Cronbach's alpha value of > 0.81. The overall value of Cronbach's alpha for CCSAT was 0.944. Two items each were reduced and modified. Conclusion: CCSAT was found to be feasible, reliable and valid. Two items each were revised and reduced. Final tool post pilot study contained 92 items.