Development and psychometric Evaluation of Thai Head Nurses’ Advocacy for the Nursing Profession Scale (ANPS-Thai)

Abstract

This study aimed to develop the Advocacy for the Nursing Profession Scale of Thai Head Nurses (ANPS-Thai) and determine its psychometric properties. The instrument development process involved two phases: (1) development of the ANPS-Thai. Literature reviews and concept analysis were performed to generate 86 items. The response format of the scale was a 5 point Likert-scale, and (2) psychometric evaluation of the ANPS-Thai. ANPS-Thai was examined for content validity by five experts. The item-level content validity index (I-CVI) ranged from .80 to 1.00. The scale content validity index with universal agreement (S-CVI/UA) was .92 and s-CVI/Ave (average) was .98. The ANPS-Thai was pre-tested with 30 Thai head nurses. The internal consistency was determined for its reliability, yielding a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of .98. The ANPS-Thai was administered to 541 Thai head nurses in 26 hospitals. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with varimax rotation was performed. The result of EFA was five factors with 72 items: (1) promoting academic atmosphere and facilitating research and innovation (21 items), (2) proactive to protect professional image (16 items), (3) cooperate with others and sacrifice for the benefit of society and profession (15 items), (4) speak out to enhance professional worth (12 items), and (5) managing for maximum quality (8 items). It accounted for 58.09% of variance and factor loadings ranged from 50-,80. The internal consistency was determined, yielding an alpha coefficient of.98 for the whole scale and the alpha coefficients of factors ranged from .89-96. Hypothesis testing supported construct validity (r-.48, p<.O1). The stability of ANPS-Thai was performed by test-retest method demonstrating high reliability (r=,97, p<,01) The ANPS-Thai is a valid and reliable tool for nursing organizations to assess advocacy for the nursing profession among Thai head nurses and develop strategies to promote head nurses' advocacy role for the nursing profession in the future.