Development and Pilot Psychometric Testing of the Cancer Nurse Self‐Assessment Tools for Early and Metastatic Breast Cancer

ABSTRACT Aim To develop and psychometrically test two newly developed Cancer Nurse Self‐Assessment Tools for early and metastatic breast cancer (CaN‐SAT‐eBC and CAN‐SAT‐mBC). Design Instrument development and psychometric testing of content validity, reliability and construct validity. Methods A three‐phase procedure was conducted. Phase 1: An expert working group was formed to design and develop each tool using Benner's Model of Clinical Competence. Phase 2: The Content Validation Index (CVI) was used to assess the relevance and clarity of each item on the tools with breast cancer nurse experts and nursing educators. A CVI ≥ 0.78 was required for an item to be included in each tool. Phase 3: The tools were tested for internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha and construct validity using principal component analysis (PCA). The Guidelines for Reporting Reliability and Agreement Studies were followed in reporting this study. Results Each tool underwent two rounds of content validation. Ten experts were involved in the content validation for the CaN‐SAT‐eBC and 12 experts involved for CaN‐SAT‐mBC. The final versions comprised 18 (CAN‐SAT‐eBC) and 22 elements (CaN‐SAT‐mBC). All items obtained a satisfactory CVI of 0.83–1.0. Data from 159 and 126 nurses were analysed to evaluate reliability for CaN‐SAT‐eBC and CaN‐SAT‐mBC, respectively. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for all elements were between 0.83 and 0.98. The PCA supported that each element was unidimensional and composed of internally correlated items, with the exception of the ‘Diagnostics’ element of practice which has a two‐component structure measuring basic and advanced diagnostic tasks. Conclusions The two CaN‐SATs are comprehensive, valid and reliable. They can be used for self‐assessment by nurses in relation to breast cancer care and for identifying learning needs for long‐term professional development. The self‐assessment tools can also be used to develop education initiatives for specialised breast cancer nurses. Patient or Public Contribution No patient or public contribution.