2017 Volume 20 Issue 1 Pages 13-21
Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop a Research Utilization Competency Scale（RUC）for public health nurses.
Method: The item pool of the RUC was selected from previous studies and refined by researchers, and was corrected through a pilot survey. The subjects were half of the approximately 2,000 full-time public health nurses（PHNs）working at all 184 local governments of the Chugoku District of Japan. Questionnaires were distributed by mail. We explained the ethical considerations in writing and those who returned the completed questionnaire forms were deemed to have given their consent.
Results: Of the 1094 recipients, a total of 614（56.1%）responded, and 604（55.2%）responses were valid. Ten items were selected among 15 items based on the results of item analysis, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to confirm the construct validity showed that the RUC consisted of two subscales: to search the research results to solve on-site problems, to appraise, apply, and evaluate the research results. The correlation coefficient between two groups divided by odd/even-number method of the split-half method was 0.91, and Cronbach’s alpha, a reliability coefficient of RUC, was 0.92 and the score of each subscale was over 0.8, thus supporting the internal consistency of RUC. The correlation coefficient between RUC scores and the external variables that measured the practical competence of public health nurses was 0.4–0.5, supporting the coexistence validity of the criterion-related validity of RUC. The significant differences were observed between known-groups, supporting the known-group validity of RUC.
Conclusion: This study developed RUC consisting of ten items and two subscales to measure a research-results utilization competency of public health nurses, and confirmed constant reliability and validity. Hereafter it is expected to use RUC for the competency development and evaluation of public health nurses.
