Self-reported competence among advanced practice nursing students in Denmark, Finland and Norway: a cross-sectional multicentre study

Abstract

Background The health care systems in the Nordic countries and worldwide are under pressure due to increasedlongevity and a shortage of nurses. Providing nurses with a high level of education, such as advanced practicenursing, is of great importance to ensure effective, safe and high-quality care.Aim The aim of this study was to investigate self-reported competence using the Nurse Professional CompetenceScale Short-Form for the first time among master’s students of advanced practice nursing in the Nordic countries andto relate the findings to age, work obligations, child-rearing responsibilities, level of education and clinical nursingexperience.Methods A multicentre, cross-sectional design was used in this study conducted at five universities in Denmark,Finland and Norway. The Nurse Professional Competence Scale Short-Form consisting of six competence areas wasused with a maximum score of 7 per item for the analysis of single items and a transformed scale from 14.3 to 100 foranalysing the competence areas (higher score equals higher self-reported competence). Descriptive and comparativestatistics were used to analyse the data.Results The highest mean score was found for the competence area ‘Value-based nursing care’. Students livingwith home-dwelling children (≤ 18 years) reported significantly higher competence in ‘Nursing care’, while students≥33 years reported significantly higher competence in ‘Nursing care’ and ‘Value-based nursing care’. No significantdifferences were found between students working and those not working alongside their studies, between studentswith and without further nursing-related education, or between students with long and short experience as nurses.Conclusions The findings from this study might help to further develop curricula in advanced practice nursingmaster’s programmes to ensure high-quality nursing and sustainable health care in the future. Future high-qualitymaster’s programmes might benefit from systematic collaboration between Nordic higher education institutionsas also Sweden is planning master’s programme. Higher age, having children at home and working while studyingshould not be considered causes for concern.