Development of the Student Evidence-based Practice Questionnaire (S-EBPQ)

Background: The assessment of learning and teaching of Evidence-based Practice (EBP) in nursing is an important issue, yet few tools have been developed specifically for use with student nurses. Therefore, the Evidence-based Practice Questionnaire (EBPQ), which has been successfully used to measure EBP in nurses and nurse educators, was revised to develop a Student version (S-EBPQ). Objective: The purpose of the study was to develop a student version of the Evidence-based Practice Questionnaire (EBPQ) and test its psychometric properties with a UK undergraduate student population. Design: Instrument development study. Participants and Method: Two hundred and forty-four undergraduate nursing students from an English University were recruited over a three year period to complete the EBPQ. This data was submitted to reliability analysis based on Item Response Theory and Exploratory Factor Analysis to explore construct validity. Results: Principal Component Analysis demonstrated evidence for the S-EBPQ's construct validity, and analyses comparing the subscale scores of students in their first and second years of studies identified evidence for the tool's convergent validity. Descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients and reliability estimates demonstrated evidence for the S-EBPQ's internal reliability, and item facility and discrimination. Conclusion: The S-EBPQ appears to be a psychometrically robust measure of EBP use, attitudes, and knowledge and skills (regarding the retrieval and evaluation of evidence, and the application and sharing of EBP). It may therefore provide an effective means of evaluating learning of EBP with undergraduate nursing students.