Development and psychometric testing of the Physical Examination Attitudes and Practices Scale

Abstract

Aim: To develop and test a scale that assesses the attitudes and practices of registered nurses toward physical examination (PE) in of (delete) the clinical settings.

Methods: A cross-sectional methodological design with a convenience sample of 277 registered nurses was used. A Likert-type scale was constructed using 55 Likert-type items that were extracted from the relevant literature. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted using varimax rotation. Factor loading, eigenvalues, and screeplots were used to determine the best fit model.

Results: The final version of the scale consisted of four factors. The determinant score was (0.001) and the total variance explained was 56.26%. All of those four factors had eigenvalue more than 1. The final version of the scale (the 20-item scale) was tested for reliability and was internally consistent (Cronbach's α = 0.833). The scale was supported for its validity.

Conclusion: The final version of the scale can be used to determine nurses' perspective and use of PE, and assist in bridging the gap between what is taught and what is practices regarding PE.

Keywords: attitudes; barriers to physical examination; factor analysis; physical examination; practices; registered nurses.