Adaptation of the Ethical Sensitivity Scale in Nursing Students to Turkish

Background Ethical sensitivity is a fundamental component of nursing practice, enabling nurses to recognize ethical issues and make appropriate ethical decisions. Measuring ethical sensitivity during nursing education is important for developing ethical awareness and professional values. Therefore, valid and reliable measurement tools are needed to assess nursing students’ ethical sensitivity. Design: This study was designed as a cross-sectional and methodological research. Methods The study was conducted with 84 nursing students between December 2020 and January 2021. Data were collected online using a Descriptive Characteristics Form and the Ethical Sensitivity Questionnaire for Nursing Students (ESQ-NS). TheǰThe scale was translated into Turkish using forward–backward translation. Content validity was evaluated using the Davis method. Construct validity was examined through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Reliability was assessed using item–total correlations, split-half reliability, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Results The content validity index of the scale was found to be 1. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure consisting of 11 items, explaining 70.96% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated acceptable to good model fit indices. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.92 for the total scale, demonstrating high internal consistency. Item–total correlation values ranged between 0.403 and 0.868. Conclusion The Turkish version of the Ethical Sensitivity Questionnaire for Nursing Students is a valid and reliable measurement tool. It can be used to assess ethical sensitivity levels of nursing students in Turkey and may contribute to the evaluation and improvement of ethics education in nursing programs.