title: A confirmatory factor analysis of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students in a Chinese sample.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Educational institutions play an important role in encouraging students' engagement with course work. Educators are finding instruments to measure students' engagement in order to develop strategies to improve it. Little is known about the factor structure of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students among Chinese nursing students.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this research was to examine the factor structure of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students via confirmatory factor analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study used a cross-sectional design. A sample of 480 students from a nursing school in one Chinese university completed the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students. Factor analysis was used to analyze the resulting data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall results of internal consistency reliability and confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence supporting the reliability and three-factor structure of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students. The total internal consistency reliability coefficients were 0.91. Model comparison tests indicated that an oblique factors model that permitted correlations between pairs of error terms fitted the data better than other first-order models. In addition, due to the three strongly intercorrelated factors, a second-order model was found to fit the data well, providing support for the factorial structure of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence supporting the reliability and three-factor structure of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students when evaluated with a Chinese nursing student sample in this study. Thus, it is appropriate to use The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students in for assessing the engagement among Chinese nursing students.
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, No. 6, Jizhao Road, 300060 Tianjin, China. Electronic address: mln_511@163.com.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, No. 6, Jizhao Road, 300060 Tianjin, China. Electronic address: huanhu_2015@163.com.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards
keywords: Confirmatory factor analysis; Nursing student; Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students