[Validity and reliability of the sense of coherence scale among nursing undergraduate students from a Spanish university].

Objective: To analyze the factor structure of the OLQ-13 scale and to study the direct relationship between sense of coherence and lifestyles in university students of nursing.

Method: Cross-sectional study.

Location: University of Jaén. Andalusia, Spain.

Participants: 384 students from the first three years of the nursing degree in the University of Jaén.

Main Measurement: Internal consistency was studied by Cronbach's alpha, reliability test-retest was measured by intraclass coefficient correlation (ICC) and construct validity was analysed by exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and known-groups technique.

Results: The internal consistency of the scale was adequate (Cronbach α = 0.809). The ICC for the reliability test-retest was 0.91. The exploratory factor analysis showed 3 factors explaining 50.13% of the variance. The confirmatory factor analysis showed f goodness-of-fit indexes for the proposed model CFI=0.965; RMSA=0.041; GFI=0.963; SRMR=0.041. Statistically significant differences in sense of coherence were found among the subgroups of students with healthy and unhealthy lifestyles (p <0.001).

Conclusions: The study confirms the multidimensionality of the OLQ-13 scale, in which 3 factors were identified: external meaningful, comprehensibility and manageability, and internal comprehensibility and manageability. The OLQ-13 may be a valid and reliable scale for use in the Spanish university population.