Development and psychometric testing of Holistic Clinical Assessment Tool (HCAT) for undergraduate nursing students

Background:A major focus in nursing education is on the judgement of clinical performance, and it is a complexprocess due to the diverse nature of nursing practice. A holistic approach in assessment of competency is advocated.Difficulties in the development of valid and reliable assessment measures in nursing competency have resulted in thedevelopment of assessment instruments with an increase in face and content validity, but few studies have testedthese instruments psychometrically. It is essential to develop a holistic assessment tool to meet the needs of the clinicaleducation. The study aims to develop a Holistic Clinical Assessment Tool (HCAT) and test its psychometric properties. Methods:The HCAT was developed based on the systematic literature review and the findings of qualitative studies.An expert panel was invited to evaluate the content validity of the tool. A total of 130 final-year nursing undergraduatestudents were recruited to evaluate the psychometric properties (i.e. factor structure, internal consistency and test-retestreliability) of the tool. Results:The HCAT has good content validity with content validity index of .979. The exploratory factor analysis revealsa four-factor structure of the tool. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the HCAT are satisfactory withCronbach alpha ranging from .789 to .965 and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient ranging from .881 to .979 for the foursubscales and total scale. Conclusions:HCAT has the potential to be used as a valid measure to evaluate clinical competence in nursingstudents, and provide specific and ongoing feedback to enhance the holistic clinical learning experience. In addition,HCAT functions as a tool for self-reflection, peer-assessment and guides preceptors in clinical teaching and assessment