Development and Psychometric Testing of the Academic Clinical Nurse Educator Skill Acquisition Tool

Abstract

AIMThis article reports the development and psychometric testing of an instrument to measure academic clinical nurse educator skill acquisition.BACKGROUNDLittle research explores clinical nurse educator competence.METHODUsing the National League for Nursing Academic Clinical Nurse Educator core competencies and a literature review, newly created clinical nurse educator skill acquisition items underwent two rounds of content validity testing. The resulting 40-item Academic Clinical Nurse Educator Skill Acquisition Tool was pilot tested with a convenience sample of 133 clinical nurse educators.RESULTSThe Academic Clinical Nurse Educator Skill Acquisition Tool demonstrated adequate validity and internal consistency reliability. Factor analysis identified two factors: facilitating clinical learning through the use of effective teaching, assessment, and evaluation and promoting nursing enculturation.CONCLUSIONFurther use of this tool may provide insight about the psychometrics, offer information about clinical teaching competence, and could lead to improved orientation and mentoring programs for clinical nurse educators.

Psychometric Testing of a Tool to Assess Midwifery Clinical Educator Skill Acquisition

“…3 To succeed in the role, clinical educators require mentorship, orientation, and ongoing support. 4 The available literature clearly defines the academic clinical nurse educator role. However, there remains a gap in examining the competence of clinical midwifery faculty with a valid and reliable tool to measure the knowledge, skills, and attitudes.…”

“…Content validity of the 40-item ACNESAT has been achieved with prelicensure and nurse practitioner clinical nurse educators. 4,5 To assess content validity with midwifery clinical educators, 5 experts reviewed the ACNESAT for item representativeness of the role. The expert review resulted in an overall content validity index of 86%.…”

“…Total ACNESAT scores have a range of 40 to 200, with a score of 40 representing no confidence, 41 to 80 representing low confidence, 81 to 120 representing moderate confidence, 121 to 160 representing a high level of confidence, and 161 to 200 representing extreme confidence. 4,5…”

“…7(p2) 7 Task statements for each core competency reflect specific actions of academic clinical nurse educators. 7 In 2022, Shellenbarger and Sebach 4,5 reported the development and validation of the ACNESAT. The ACNESAT encompasses all 6 NLN academic clinical nurse educator competencies, associated task statements, and Patricia Benner's Novice to Expert framework.…”

“…7,8 High internal consistency and reliability of the ACNESAT have been reported with nurse practitioner clinical nurse educators (α = .972) and prelicensure academic clinical nurse educators (α = .975). 4,5 Moreover, the ACNESAT reflects 2 factors, including Promoting Nursing Enculturation and Facilitating Clinical Learning Through the Use of Effective Teaching, Assessment, and Evaluation, 17 and 23 items, respectively.…”