Nursing Students’ Perception of Their Digital Capabilities in UAE College: An Institutional-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Background: It is widely acknowledged that university students have high digital capabilitiesDigital capabilities because they are efficient at browsing the internet and using social media. However, to be highly skilled at digital capabilitiesDigital capabilities, there are more skills students need to excel to have high capabilities skills, including but not limited to having high critical thinking skills to be able to critically select sources and the ability to evaluate. In the United Arab Emirates, digital capabilitiesDigital capabilities among university students, including nursing students, remain understudied. The aim of the study was to assess nursing students’ perception of their digital capabilitiesDigital capabilities and the relationship between students’ digital independent learning and their digital capabilitiesDigital capabilities’ patterns. The researchers conducted a cross-sectional study deploying a convenience sample of nursing students (n = 200) from all levels in the nursing department at Fatima College of Health Sciences, UAE. An online survey was used to gather information. The overall score varied from 19 to 133 points (α = 0.948), and higher scores indicated a greater level of digital skills. Digital independent learningDigital independent learning was the highest among the domains (73.5%). In addition, digital information, data management, digital communication, and digital identity were highly correlated with nursing students’ digital independent learning (p = <0.001). Fatima College of Health Sciences nursing students had a high level of digital capabilities.