2009 Volume 56 Issue 6 Pages 391-401
Purpose To develop a ‘Competency Measurement of Creativity’ (CMC) for public health nurses (PHNs) we earlier identified relevant items. In the present study, we aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the resultant CMC.
Methods Questionnaires were distributed via mail. The subjects were full-time PHNs working at 135 prefectural public health centers and 115 municipal health centers; the centers were randomly selected. The questionnaire contained items related to self-evaluation of CMC, external variables concerning the creation of projects/social resources, basic personal information, and experience in attending seminars.
To prove the validity of the CMC, item and factor analyses were conducted and correlation coefficients were calculated. To prove reliability of CMC, Cronbach's alpha and split-halves were calculated. In addition, the relevance of CMC scores was tested using basic personal information and experience in attending seminars.
Results A total of 1,261 (70.1%) PHNs responded, and 1,112 (61.8%) responses were valid.
The average response for each item in the CMC ranged from 1.97 to 3.44. Item and factor analyses showed the CMC to consist of 3 factors and 16 items. The factors were termed “defining the necessity of creativity” “promoting and incarnating creativity” and “collaborating for creativity”. Cronbach's alpha and split-half values ranged from 0.76 to 0.95; hence reliability was proved. The correlation coefficients between CMC scores and external variables were in the range of 0.50-0.69. Significant links were noted with regard to years of experience, attending facility, job title, and experience in attending seminars.
Conclusions The results thus obtained proved the reliability and validity of a CMC that contains 3 factors and 16 items. The CMC score was found to be relevant in terms of basic personal information and experience in attending seminars and this result is in agreement with existing knowledge. CMC could be used for self-evaluation, for example, in pre- and post- tests at seminars dealing with the creation of projects/social resources.
