Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the validity and reliability of the Scale of Fundamental Competencies for Working Persons in new graduate nurses. Method: New graduate nurses working in 12general hospitals in the Kanto area, Japan were surveyed using the Scale of Fundamental Competencies for Working Persons(Kitajima's version). An exploratory factor analysis and a correlation analysis with the KiSS-18 (Kikuchi's Scale of Social Skills: 18 items) were conducted to examine the validity of the scale. The reliability of the scale was evaluated using the Cronbach's α coefficient, split-half method, and test-retest method. Results: Cronbach's α coefficient for the full scale (36 items) was 0.94.The correlation coefficients using the split-half and test-retest methods were 0.82 (p < 0.01) and 0.70 (p < 0.01) respectively. In the factor analysis (principal factor method, varimax rotation), the number of factors was fixed at 3 based on the scree-plot mapping of the decay of the eigenvalues and the number of subordinate concepts of the fundamental competencies for working persons. These 3 factors consisted of items similar to those of factors in the original scale. Factor 1 was named "thinking"; Factor 2, "teamwork"; and Factor 3, "action" (together the three factors explained 48.6% of the variance in scale scores). Cronbach's a for Factors 1, 2, and 3 was 0.90, 0.90, and 0.85, respectively. Furthermore, the correlation coefficient with the KiSS-18 scale was 0.58 (p < 0.01), which demonstrated the scale's high validity. Conclusion: The results identified the 3 factors similar to the original version in new graduate nurses and suggested the validity and reliability as the Scale of Fundamental Competencies for Working Persons.
