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 teacher's 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.