Development of the ability scales of regarding child advocacy for pediatric nurses: Analysis of reliability and validity

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a scale assessing pediatric nurses’ ability to achieve practice that advocates for children’s rights and verify its reliability and validity. The draft scales were extracted from previous studies and their items and validity were examined by teachers and nurses engaging in pediatric nursing and education. Thirty one items of the draft scales were prepared. Furthermore, anonymous self-administered questionnaire survey using these items was conducted with 627 pediatric nurses in 30 health care facilities in the Kanto region, including 25 university and 5 pediatric hospitals. The effective recovery rate was 58.2％. Based on item analysis and factor analysis, nineteen items were classified into three factors: “ability to understand and support children and their family,” “ability to adjust medical staff who did not advocate for children’s rights” and “ability to explain to the child and confirming his or her own view.” Cronbach’s α coefficient for the overall reliability was 0.86 and its content validity was presented. However, there are additional challenges to study the items of the scales and criterion-related validity for another enlarged object of survey. It was confirmed that the scales could be practicable by improving accuracy of the scales.