Clinical teaching competence inventory for nursing preceptors: Instrument development and testing

The aim of the study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of an instrument which measures clinical teaching competencies of nursing preceptors. It is necessary to investigate what kinds of teaching competencies are required in modern, more student-centered higher education teaching contexts. Nurses need to possess teaching competence to perform the role of preceptor properly. However, empirical studies exploring teaching competence are rare. Psychometric testing was conducted on a sample of 389 clinical nursing preceptors from three hospitals in 2010. Exploratory factor analysis and reliability testing were conducted on the 53-item Clinical Teaching Competencies Scale. Results indicated that principal axis factoring extraction identified four factors through a promax rotation: Student evaluation, goal setting and individual teaching, teaching strategies, and demonstration of organized knowledge. The Cronbach’s α values for the four factors ranged from 0.82–0.87. The Clinical Teaching Competence Inventory was found to have adequate construct validity and internal consistency of reliability for clinical nursing preceptors to assess clinical teaching behaviors in practice settings.