Development and psychometric testing of a Learning Behaviour Questionnaire among Chinese undergraduate nursing students

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to develop and validate a new Learning Behaviour Questionnaire (LBQ) for the undergraduate nursing students. Study design This study was performed in two phases. Phase 1 of the study focused on questionnaire development to create a pool of items, while phase 2 focused on validity and reliability testing. Methods Semistructured interviews were used to explore nursing undergraduates' perception of learning behaviour. A two-round modified Delphi method was used to test content validity and quantify the degree of consistency in questionnaire items. An item analysis, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and an internal consistency reliability check were conducted. Criterion-related validity was demonstrated through correlations with Self-Regulated Learning Scale for Undergraduates (SRLS-U). A sample of 114 nursing students was evaluated in test-retest reliability to confirm stability. Results The final LBQ consisted of four factors for the 19-item questionnaire with a 5-point rating from '1' (Fully disagree) to '5' (fully agree). The content validity was 0.890. EFA revealed the presence of four factors, including 'strategy','attitude', 'motivation' and 'degree of satisfaction'. The CFA indicated good fit indexes for the proposed model (χ 2/df=1.866, root mean square residual=0.037, comparative fit index =0.950, goodness-of-fit index =0.929, Tucker-Lewis index=0.941, adjusted goodness-of-fit index=0.907 and root mean square error of approximation=0.049). The LBQ correlated significantly with SRLS-U subscales (r=0.742-0.837, p<0.01). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the whole questionnaire was 0.936, while the Cronbach's alphas of the four factors were 0.828, 0.826, 0.804 and 0.805, respectively. The test-retest reliabilities of the four factors were 0.886, 0.904, 0.852 and 0.875, respectively. Conclusion The validity and reliability of the LBQ were satisfying. The LBQ is a short, well-developed questionnaire that can serve as a generic assessment tool for measuring learning behaviour for Chinese undergraduate nursing students.