Sunday, November 2, 2003

This presentation is part of : Evaluation of Decision-Making and Critical Thinking: Tools and Models

The Development and Psychometric Testing of an Instrument Measuring Intuition Use by Nursing Students

Anita Joel Smith, RN, MN, PhD, Department of Nursing, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, CA, USA and Mary Ann Thurkettle, PhD, RN, School of Nursing, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
Learning Objective #1: Identify how intuition was conceptualized for this tool development
Learning Objective #2: Identify the psychometric properties of the newly-developed intuition instrument

Measurement of intuition use among nursing students has not occurred because developed intuition measures have been designed specifically for experienced nurses. The purpose of this study was to develop and psychometrically evaluate an intuition instrument for nursing students. An intuition instrument can provide the means to (a) determine if students use intuition in care providing activities and (b) measure intuition use over time.

Instrument development included (a) concept clarification, (b) item development, and (c) psychometric testing. Intuition was defined as a nonlinear process of knowing perceived through physical awareness, emotional awareness, and/or through physical or spiritual connections. Content experts established item content validity for the dimensions of emotional awareness, physical awareness, and making connections. The resulting 33-item instrument was pretested in a sample of senior nursing students.

A random sample of 1,000 senior BSN and AD nursing students was selected from the National Student Nurse Association membership. Data collection through the mail resulted in 349 responses (35% response rate). Principal component analysis with orthogonal varimax rotation resulted in 7 factors accounting for 66.2% of the variance: Factor 1, physical sensations (26.6%); Factor 2, premonitions (9.2%); Factor 3, spiritual connections (6.5%); Factor 4, reading of cues (5%); Factor 5, sensing energy (4.6%); Factor 6, apprehension (3.6%); and Factor 7, reassuring feelings (3.4%). Eigenvalues ranged from 1.010 to 4.107 and factor loadings ranged from .53 to .85. Cronbach’s alpha for each factor ranged from .69 to .84 and was .89 for the revised 25-item instrument. The seven factors that emerged supported the concept definition of intuition and the use of intuition by students. Future research needs to focus on further development and psychometric testing of the revised instrument.

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