Assessing the Construct Congruence of the RN Comprehensive Predictor and NCLEX-RN Test Plan

BACKGROUND: The 2013 NCLEX-RN® test plans specified an underlying general entry-level nursing ability encompassing all the tested specific categories and subcategories, as indicated by a second-order factor structure. This study attempted to verify this hierarchical factor structure in real data. METHOD: Data from the RN Comprehensive Predictor® 2013 assessment, developed by Assessment Technologies Institute using the 2013 NCLEX-RN test plans, were used to test the entry-level nursing ability second-order factor structure by a confirmatory factor analysis technique. RESULTS: The results indicated a good fit of the proposed factor model to the RN Comprehensive Predictor 2013 assessment data. CONCLUSION: The verified second-order factor structure provides evidence for the existence of the general entry-level nursing ability, which has important theoretical implications to the development and testing of a nursing instrument or theory in nursing science research. In addition, the verified congruent factor structure provides strong evidence for the construct validity of the RN Comprehensive Predictor 2013 assessment. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(7):412-419.].