As shown in the previous literature, in view of the future responsibilities of nursing professionals and the consequences for healthcare, it is of great interest to examine their risk perceptions,
coping behaviors, and sense of coherency during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study
is to design and to validate a specific questionnaire that evaluates the factors relating to perceived risk,
coping behaviors, and preventive knowledge against COVID-19 infection among nursing students
from Spain. This is a psychometric study of a questionnaire’s design and its validation in 1562 nursing
students at 16 undergraduate nursing institutions in Spain. An ad-hoc survey was designed by a
panel of six experts drawing from the literature. After a trial test, the questionnaire was formed
with four scales (perception, risk, coping, and knowledge of preventive practices for COVID-19),
with a total of 69 items. The final questionnaire was composed of 52 items grouped into four scales,
with good psychometric properties to measure risk perception (Cronbach’s alpha 0.735), factors
related to perceived risk (Cronbach’s alpha 0.653), coping behaviors (Cronbach’s alpha 0.80), and
knowledge of preventive practices against COVID-19 (Cronbach’s alpha 0.77). This questionnaire,
specifically designed and validated for nursing students, is the first to address four important areas
in the development of preventive measures against COVID-19.
