Preliminary assessment of content validity and internal consistency of the N-CT-4 students questionnaire in the master’s students in nursing

Critical thinking (CT) is a core competency in nursing, essential for clinical judgment, safe practice, and professional development. However, valid and context-specific tools to assess CT in nursing education remain limited in Vietnam. This study is the first to translate, content validate, and reliability test the N-CT-4 Students questionnaire into Vietnamese and to employ it in the survey on Master’s students in Nursing (MSNs), marking the initial use of this tool among graduate-level nursing students. The Vietnamese version of the N-CT-4 Students questionnaire used in this study was translated through a forward–backward translation process. Content validity was assessed through evaluations by six experts, using the item-level and scale-level content validity indices (I-CVI, S-CVI). Internal consistency reliability, measured by Cronbach’s Alpha, was determined through an online survey involving 100 MSNs at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City (UMP). The Vietnamese version of the N-CT-4 Students questionnaire preserved the meaning of the original English version, which was clear and easy to comprehend. The I-CVI for the N-CT-4 Students components ranged from 0.8 to 1.0. The S-CVI/AVE and S-CVI/UA were 0.99 and 0.95, respectively. The internal consistency reliability of MSNs was 0.982. The Vietnamese version of the N-CT-4 Students questionnaire demonstrates strong content validity and high internal reliability, making it a suitable tool for assessing CT among MSNs in Vietnam. Its availability can support nursing educators in evaluating this competency and developing strategies to enhance CT in clinical settings.