Use of Digital Technology as a Collaborative Tool among Nursing Students-Survey Study and Validation.

BACKGROUND

This research aimed to develop a questionnaire to analyze perceived aspects of using digital technology among nursing students as a collaborative tool. We further sought to evaluate the psychometric reliability of the instrument.

METHODS

A cross-sectional observational study was performed using a questionnaire developed from scratch. Psychometric studies and univariate and bivariate analyses were performed.

RESULTS

132 nursing students participated. The exploratory and confirmatory analyses of the questionnaire excluded 4 of the initial 18 items and established four domains, and internal consistency was found. The mean global score of the answers to the questionnaire was 4.67 on a scale of 1-5 points, and all the domains obtained high scores. Men scored higher on the usefulness and the global score, while no differences were found regarding age.

CONCLUSIONS

Nursing students positively assess the use of digital technology as a collaborative tool, regardless of age. Digital technology as a collaborative tool is perceived as beneficial, improves their involvement, and allows nursing students to obtain a better knowledge of their partners. These findings can help develop group projects and tools based on technology to train future nursing professionals. The questionnaire developed is a valid tool to assess this.