Development and Psychometric Testing of an Oral Presentation Scale for Nursing Students

Abstract Background: Oral presentations are an important educational component for nursing students. However, there are no reliable tools for objective evaluations of presentations. We aimed to develop a measurement scale for nursing students’ oral presentations and evaluate its reliability and validity. Methods: A literature review and face-to-face interviews with university tutors in oral presentations and students generated 28 scale items. The validity and reliability of the scale was evaluated with exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, criterion-related validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability. Results: Nursing students provided data for exploratory factor analysis (n = 325), which resulted in 20 items. Three factors explained 64.75% of the total variance: accuracy of content, effective communication, and clarity of speech. The Cronbach's α value was .94 for the total scale and the three factors ranged from .84 to .93. Construct validity was examined with confirmatory factor analysis using data from another 325 students. Five items were deleted, and fit indices of the model were acceptable, with the exception of the adjusted goodness of fit index, which was below the minimum criteria. The final 15-item oral presentation scale (OPS) was significantly correlated with the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension scale (r = -.51, p < .001) and Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (r = .45, p < .001) indicating excellent criterion-related validity. The intra-class correlation coefficient for a 3-week test-retest (r = .681, p < .001) indicated the OPS was stable over time. Conclusions: The OPS could be adopted to help nursing programs prepare for and improve students’ oral presentations.