Development and psychometric evaluation of the nursing students' attitude towards e-learning scale

Background: E-learning is a relatively recent and rapidly expanding trend of nursing education that increased particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, assessing the attitudes of nursing students towards e -learning with standardized tools has gained importance.Aim: To determine the validity and reliability of nursing students' attitudes towards e-learning (NSA-E-learning) scale.Method: This methodological study was performed from 1 July to 15 August 2021 with 404 nursing students in Turkey. The item pool of the scale was created based on the relevant literature. The data were evaluated using descriptive statistics, explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Pearson correlation analysis, t-test for dependent variables and Cronbach alpha coefficient.Results: The content validity index of this scale calculated according to experts' opinions ranged from 0.87 to 1.00. According to the exploratory factor analysis, 4 factors had an eigenvalue > 1. These 4 factors accounted for 69.66 % of the total variance. CFA showed favorable results for Chi square/degrees of freedom (chi 2/df), comparative fit index (CFI) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA). The Cronbach alpha of the scale was 0.96 and the Cronbach alpha coefficient of the sub-dimensions ranged from 0.82 to 0.94. The NSA-E -learning scale had moderate test-retest reliability.Conclusion: The 29-item NSA-E-learning scale was a valid and reliable tool for assessing the attitude of the nursing students towards e-learning.