Abstract
Kanter argued that employees come to express their situations through their behaviors, and opportunity and power may explain a large number of discrete individual responses to organizations. Based on Kanter's theory, Laschinger et al. developed the Nursing Work Empowerment Scale, which includes the Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire (CWEQ) I.
Objectives: The purpose of this study is to develop a Japanese version of the Nursing Work Empowerment Scale and to test its utility.
Methods: After obtaining permission, we developed the Japanese version of the Nursing Work Empowerment Scale by translating and back-translating the CWEQ I. We invited nursing staff from five hospitals (N=1,511) to submit answers to the questionnaire.
Results: We received responses from a total of 1,145 nursing staff (response rate: 76%). The Chronbach α values for Opportunity, Support, Resource, and Information were 0.81, 0.90, 0.75, and 0.86, respectively. Nursing staff who had worked less than three years obtained low Support scores, and those who had a long tenure obtained higher Information scores. Japanese nursing staff had lower Opportunity and Resource scores and higher Support scores than Canadian nurses.
Conclusions: The Japanese version of Nurses Work Empowerment Scale is sufficiently valid, and work empowerment in Japanese hospitals is comparable to that of North American hospitals, according to this scale.
