Development of a Moral Courage Scale for Psychiatric Nurses Based on the Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale (NMCS)

Abstract

Objective: To develop a Japanese version of Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale for Psychiatric nurses (J-NMCSP) and to assess its reliability and validity.

Methods: This study included 2,601 psychiatric nurses who were administered the J-NMCSP, which was developed through a translation process. The construct validity was evaluated through an exploratory factor analysis, whereas the model fit was confirmed through a confirmatory factor analysis. Subsequently, item analysis, reliability confirmation, and validity were performed.

Result: The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that the four-factor model had high goodness-of-fit indices (GFI = .903, AGFI = .876, CFI = .893, RMSEA = .072, AIC = 1,100.539, BIC = 1,102.517), and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the entire J-NMCSP was 0.910. Moreover, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the entire J-NMCSP was 0.910.

Conclusion: The J-NMCSP has been shown to be an effective and reliable scale for measuring the moral courage of Japanese psychiatric nurses. However, since the factor structure of the J-NMCSP differs from that of the original untranslated version, caution should be taken when conducting international comparisons.