Aim: The study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the short-form Nurse Professional Competence Scale-Korean version (NPC-K) among Korean nursing students at the point of graduation.
Design: This was a cross-sectional survey.
Methods: The Nurse Professional Competence scale was translated into Korean using the World Health Organization (WHO) translation method. A total of 195 graduating nursing students participated. Exploratory factor analysis for validity and Cronbach's alpha coefficients for reliability were examined.
Results: Factor analysis showed that five NPC-K factors accounted for 68.38% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.97. The NPC-K has high internal reliability and acceptable construct validity. The content of the scale reflected nursing students' confidence in formal competence requirements based on Korean cultural and educational backgrounds. An accurate assessment of nurse professional competence using the NPC-K may help nursing academics enhance the quality of education and training.
Keywords: nursing; professional competence; psychometric properties; reliability; students; validity.
© 2022 The Authors. Nursing Open published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.