Aim: To evaluate the psychometric properties of an Arabic version of the Spiritual Care-Giving Scale (SCGS) in a sample of Saudi nursing students.
Method: A convenience sample of 202 Saudi nursing students was included in this descriptive cross-sectional study. The 35-item Arabic version of the SCGS (SCGS-A) was tested for internal consistency, stability reliability, content validity, and construct validity.
Findings: The SCGS-A manifested acceptable internal consistency and stability reliability with computed Cronbach's alpha ranges from .84 to .94, and an intraclass correlation coefficient of .97. The item-level content validity index ranged from .83 to 1, and the scale-level content validity index (average) was .98. The principal component analysis revealed five dominant components with eigenvalues greater than 1, and a cumulative contribution rate of 62.0%. The five factors were moderately to strongly correlated ( r = .29-.56; p < .001) with each other and with the overall SCGS-A score ( r = .57-.77; p < .001).
Conclusion: The SCGS-A manifested an acceptable reliability and validity in Saudi nursing students, which supports its sound psychometric properties. With the establishment of this valid and reliable tool, timely and accurate assessment of student nurses' perceptions about spirituality and spiritual care can be facilitated.
Keywords: Saudi Arabia; Spiritual Care-Giving Scale; holistic nursing care; nursing students; psychometric evaluation; spiritual care.