Ethical Considerations
Before we conducted this study, we were granted approval by the institutional review board (IRB) of the university with which the first researcher is affiliated (IRB No: HIRB-2014-61). The IRB confirmed that no element of the research process deprived participants of their human rights and that its contents and processes were in keeping with research ethics.
Data Analysis
The collected data were analyzed using SPSS Win 21.0 and AMOS 21.0. Reliability refers to the consistency of results and validity indicates whether the instrument is measuring what the developers intended it to measure (Kardong-Edgren et al., 2010).To examine the reliability of the developed SETc-dehydration, Cronbach's alpha and Cohen's kappa (a measure of inter-observer reliability) were calculated. Cohen's kappa coefficient was calculated using the Cohen and Fleiss Kappa Program (http://www.statstpdp.com/DohenKappa_Pgm.php). Content validity of the SETc-dehydration was assessed by an expert panel. Because the LCJR based on Tanner's (2006) work was a theory-driven instrument, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to verify its construct validity.
Results
Tool Development
The SETc-dehydration was developed based on the LCJR. Each of the 41 items was classified under one of the four LCJR dimensions and eleven subcategories: noticing had three subcategories (14 items), interpreting had two (7 items), responding had four (15 items), and reflecting had two (5 items). The rubric scores for clinical judgment skills ranged from 1 to 3, corresponding to beginning, developing, and accomplished, respectively. The total possible scores ranged from 41 to 123 (Table 1).
Reliability Testing
Internal Consistency
Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to test the internal consistency of the SETc-dehydration and each dimension (Table 2). These reliability coefficients, based on the LCJR, are reported for the total scale and the four dimensions (N = 37 groups). This process involved evaluating the items within the checklist and removing repetitive items. The Cronbach's alpha for the SETc-dehydration was .87 and it ranged from .70 to .85 for the subcategories. We also examined the correlation matrix of the SETc-dehydration to check whether there were items with excessively high (greater than 0.9) or low (less than 0.4) inter-item correlations. This examination revealed no such items.