Questionnaire Development of a Good Nurse and Better Nursing From Korean Nurses' Perspective

BACKGROUND: The concepts of “good nurse” and “better nursing” have changed over time and should be investigated from the perspective of nurses. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to develop and assess the psychometric properties of two questionnaires used to assess “good nurse” and “better nursing.” METHODS: The interview data of 30 registered nurses (RNs) from a previous study were reviewed to develop the questionnaire items, and content validity was examined. One hundred seventeen RNs participated in a pilot survey for pretesting the constructs, 469 RNs participated in a main survey to explore these constructs using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and 468 RNs participated in model refining and validation using confirmatory factor analysis. RESULTS: After a critical review of RN interview data and content validity evaluation, 73 of 124 statements on “good nurse” and 56 of 57 statements on “better nursing” were selected. In the pilot survey, the number of items was reduced to 45 for both questionnaires using an EFA. In the main survey, EFA was used to load 34 items on the five factors of the good nurse questionnaire and 26 items on the three factors of the better nursing questionnaire. In the confirmatory factor analysis, to obtain better fitting models, the good nurse questionnaire consisted of 17 items on the five factors of collaboration, professional competency, self-efficacy, a sense of achievement, and compassion, whereas the better nursing questionnaire consisted of 16 items on the three factors of person-centered nursing, proactive nursing, and expertise in caring. The construct reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the questionnaires were achieved. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The concept of “good nurse” from the perspectives of the nurses in this study was similar with those of patients in previous studies, while including individual traits such as sense of achievement. Better nursing is conceptualized with the exemplary performance of nursing focusing on the nature of nursing and leading excellence and power in clinical practice. The study findings inform what nursing education and workforce development should focus on for nursing to continuously progress. Furthermore, it is recommended that the concepts of a good nurse and better nursing be compared across different countries using the questionnaires.