Psychometric evaluation of the Ethical Caring Competency Scale in nursing.

Background: An ethical competence list for nurses could guide educators and managers in the field of health care to both support the development of ethical conduct and improve the assessment of ethical competence in health care.

Aim: This study aimed to verify the reliability and validity of the Ethical Caring Competency Scale (ECCS) and to obtain suggestions for its use as an evaluation form in rubric format among a sample of Japanese nurses.

Research Design: This research employed a descriptive and cross-sectional design.

Participants And Research Context: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 1157 nurses working in two hospitals in Japan. The contents of the survey were demographic data, a draft of the ECCS consisting of 22 competencies from four core competencies, questions regarding experience in learning about medical/nursing ethics, and the Work Motivation Measurement Scale for Nurses. Three levels of difficulty for the 22 items were established using relative comparisons of the mean scores within the four core competencies. Three groups, namely, an expert group, a middle group, and a beginner group, were categorized according to the quartiles of the total ECCS score.

Ethical Considerations: This study was approved by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Hamamatsu University School of Medicine (Decision no. 18-267). The ethical principles of voluntary participation, anonymity, and confidentiality were considered.

Findings: A total of 962 valid responses were analyzed. The ECCS scores for the three levels of difficulty were significantly different from each other. Stability was confirmed by the test-retest of the total ECCS scores (r = .900, p < .0001). The total ECCS scores for the three groups showed significant differences in all pairs. The Cronbach's α coefficient ranged from .72 to .89 for each core competency, and internal consistency was confirmed.

Conclusion: The reliability and validity of the ECCS as a scale were statistically verified, and we were able to obtain suggestions for its application as a form of evaluation in rubric format.