The nurse teacher in clinical practice: Developing the new sub-dimension to the clinical learning environment and supervision (CLES) scale

Background Building on previous work undertaken in developing the clinical learning environment and supervision (CLES) scale this report outlines the development of a new sub-dimension to the CLES scale. Objectives The aim was to develop an additional sub-scale to the CLES scale for measuring the quality of nurse teacherʹs co-operation with the crucial actors in the clinical practice of student nurses. Design, setting and methods The original CLES scale and the subsequent CLES+T scale have been validated in two different empirical studies (N=416 and 549). Construct validity of the instrument was assessed with explorative factor analysis (EFA) and principal components analysis (PCA). Results The structure of the CLES+T scales factor model followed theoretical presumptions and the factors’ eigenvalues and explanation percentages (64%) were sufficient. Conclusions A validated evaluation tool—the CLES+T scale—can be used as a part of the total quality assessment of nurse education perceived by student nurses in Finland.