Examination of the Structural Validity of the Clinical Learning Environment Inventory Using Exploratory Factor Analysis.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study tested the psychometrics of the Clinical Learning Environment Inventory (CLEI-actual version), a tool designed to measure the perceptions of nursing students' clinical learning. The developer of the CLEI did not report structural validity. METHOD: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed using data from 311 licensure nursing students to assess the CLEI's proposed dimensions or structural validity. RESULTS: The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test indicated acceptable sampling adequacy. Analysis of four different models, while retaining items with factor loadings >0.35, resulted in a four-factor solution with 32 items. The factors were renamed Concern for Student Welfare (the highest weighted factor); Organized/Effective Teaching; Enjoyment of Clinical Learning; and Student Decision-Making. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the 32 item four-factor CLEI is sufficiently structurally valid and reliable for further testing.