Development of a social support scale among nursing students: A methodological study

Purpose: Social support for nursing students should be clearly defined and measured. However, the concept lacks clarity. This instrument should consider general support and address the characteristics of nursing students. This study aimed to develop a scale to measure social support for nursing students and to establish its validity and reliability. Methods: We recruited participants through convenience sampling, and collected data from January 20 to February 26, 2024. The inclusion criterion was students enrolled in the department of nursing at the universities approached, who agreed to participate in this study. We administered an online survey to 449 nursing students from four universities located in four provinces in South Korea. The data analysis methods included item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, convergent and divergent validity, criterion validity, and reliability using the statistical program for social sciences statistics. Results: The scale consisted of three factors-positive support, social relationship support, and informational support- and eleven items, which explained 62.5%. Confirmatory analysis confirmed the three-factor model. The internal consistency reliability was stable. Conclusion: Psychometric testing of the social support scale shows its validity and reliability in assessing social support in student nurses. Future studies should measure, compare, and analyze the social support of nursing students across diverse cultures and countries using the instrument developed in this study.