Translation, adaptation and validation of the Nurse-Work Instability Scale to Brazilian Portuguese

OBJECTIVE: to translate, adapt and test the psychometric properties of the Brazilian Nurse-Work Instability Scale. METHOD: this was a methodological study following the translation steps: synthesis, back-translation, specialist´s committee, semantics analysis, pretest, and psychometric tests. The committee was composed of 5 specialists. For the semantics analysis, 18 nursing workers evaluated the instrument and 30 pretested it. For the psychometric tests, the sample size was 214 nursing workers. The internal construct validity was analyzed by the Rasch model. Reliability was assessed using internal consistency, and concurrent validity with Pearson’s correlation between the Nurse-Work Instability Scale, and the Work Ability Index, Job Stress Scale. RESULTS: a Nurse-Work Instability Scale in Brazilian Portuguese with 20 items showed an adequate reliability (0.831), stability (p <0.0001), and an expected correlation with Work Ability Index (r = -0.526; P<0.0001) and Job Stress Scale (r = 0.352; p <0.0001). CONCLUSION: the instrument is appropriated to detect work instability in Brazilian nursing workers with musculoskeletal disorders. Its application is fundamental to avoid long-term withdrawal from work by early identification of the work instability. Furthermore, the scale can assist the development of actions and strategies to prevent the abandonment of the profession of nursing workers affected by musculoskeletal disorders.