Clinical Nursing Students’ Perception of Their Mentors' Assessment Literacy: Student Competence, Self-Efficacy, and Gender Difference

Background: Mentors play a crucial role in clinical nursing education, particularly in assessing student nurses. However, if students cannot perceive their mentors’ assessment-literate practices (referred to as mentors’ assessment-literate practices hereafter), they may not effectively utilize assessment information for learning. Despite its significance, mentors’ assessment-literate practices and its antecedent factors are not well studied. This study aims to explore the mediation role of nursing students’ self-efficacy in the relationship between their competence and their perception of mentors’ assessment-literate practices, while also examining potential gender bias in mentors’ assessment-literate practices. Methods: Participants included 854 final-year nursing students (61 males, 793 females) from 10 colleges/universities in southern China. After eight months of clinical training, students reported on mentors’ assessment-literate practices, self-efficacy, internship grades, and gender. Path analysis was conducted using Mplus 8.10 to test the mediating model, and gender bias was assessed through differential item functioning analysis with Winsteps® (Version 5.6.0.0). Results: The study found a full mediation effect of self-efficacy between competence and students’ perception of their mentors’ assessment-literate practices, with a significant indirect association of .10. The path coefficient between competence and self-efficacy is .12, and between self-efficacy and perceived mentors’ assessment-literate practices is .86. Three items were identified with potential differential item functioning, suggesting mentors should offer male students more practice opportunities and female students more chances to explain. Conclusions: To enhance mentors’ assessment-literate practices, stakeholders should prioritize developing students’ self-efficacy. While improving competence is beneficial, the small indirect effect suggests other strategies are also needed. This study introduces assessment-literate practices as a key concept in nursing education, highlighting its antecedent factors and potential gender biases for better assessment practices.