The development of evaluation instruments in measuring course satisfaction and professional competence of addiction nurses attending and educational programme in substance use and misuse : a pilot study

Abstract EN

The past decade has seen considerable changes occurring within the field of addiction nursing.

The central themes that guide professional development of addiction nurses are based on educational preparation and clinical practice.

The changes in health care needs and the widespread misuse of psychoactive substances demand a workforce that is highly skills and competent in nursing interventions.

It has become necessary to develop specialist postgraduate courses to empower addiction nurses to meet the current challenges and to achieve professional credibility.

It is also essential that such courses are continuously evaluated to ensure that they achieve the aims for which they were developed.

In order to evaluate the course satisfaction and the on-the-job impact, using valid and reliable instruments.

A pilot study was undertaken to develop and test psychometric instruments to measure post course satisfaction and perceived course impact on current professional practice.

Two instruments were developed and tested for their psychometric properties: the Post-Course Satisfaction Questionnaire (PCSQ) is an 19-item, 7-point Likert type scale (Coefficient alpha = 0.93), while the Course Impact Questionnaire (CIQ) is a 17-item 7-points type scale (Coefficient alpha = 0.92).

Further cross validation and statistical analysis of the PSCQ and the CIQ, with a large sample, are underway