Psychometric properties of a clinical reasoning assessment rubric for nursing education

Abstract Background Clinical reasoning is a vital competency for healthcare providers. In 2014, a clinical reasoning assessment rubric (CRAR) composed of analysis, heuristics, inference, information processing, logic, cognition and meta-cognition subdomains was developed for osteopathy students. Methods This study was conducted to verify the validity and reliability of the CRAR in nursing education. A total of 202 case vignette assessments completed by 68 students were used for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The Cronbach’s α coefficient of the CRAR was calculated. Results The content validity indices ranged from 0.57 to 1.0. The EFA resulted in three factors: assessment in nursing, nursing diagnosis and planning, and cognition/meta-cognition in nursing. The CFA supported a 3-factor model. The Cronbach’s α coefficient of the CRAR was 0.94. This study confirmed the content validity, construct validity, and reliability of the CRAR. Therefore, the CRAR is a useful rubric for assessing clinical reasoning in nursing students. Conclusions The CRAR is a standardized rubric for assessing clinical reasoning in nurses. This scale will be useful for the development of educational programs for improving clinical reasoning in nursing education.