The Assessment for Nursing Potential: Nursing Quality Scale

The study integrated the qualities of nursing students (N=227) with their aptitude and academic achievement in a tripartite model. A battery of tests called in the Assessment for Nursing Potential (ANP) composed of the (a) Nursing Quality Scale (NQS) with factors on caring, compassion, commitment and connectedness; (b) Achievement test; and (c) Aptitude test was used in the study. Using a three-wave longitudinal design, the NQS was first administered followed by the aptitude, then the achievement tests.The effects of the nursing qualities on achievement and aptitude were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The first model indicates that nursing quality as a latent factor has no significant effects on both achievement and aptitude, obtaining a moderate goodness of fit (RMSEA=. 09). However, when the same model was tested including the effect of aptitude on achievement, it resulted to a better fit (RMSEA=. 06). In the second model, aptitude has a significant effect on ac hievement, p