Skip to main content
  • Research article
  • Open access
  • Published:

Development and initial validation of an instrument to measure novice nurses’ perceived ability to provide care in acute situations – PCAS

Abstract

Background

Novice nurses need to be better prepared to provide care in acute situations. There is currently no validated scale specifically measuring nurses’ perception of their ability to provide care in acute situations. The aim of this study was to develop and examine the psychometric properties of a scale that measures novice nurses self-reported perception of ability to provide care in acute situations.

Method

Development and test of the psychometric properties of the Perception to Care in Acute Situations (PCAS) scale. Items were generated from interviews with novice nurses (n = 17) and validated using opinions of an expert panel and cognitive interviews with the target group.

Two hundred nine novice nurses tested the final scale. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to test construct validity, item reduction and underlying dimensions between the measured variables and the latent construct.

Result

The PCAS scale contains 17 items grouped into three factors. EFA demonstrated a clean three factor logic construct solution with no cross-loadings, high correlation for the total scale in both Cronbach’s alfa 0.90 and ordinal alpha 0.92.

Conclusions

The PCAS scale has proven to have acceptable validity. The factors,” confidence in provision of care”, “communication” and “patient perspective” are likely to be important aspects of providing care in acute situations. Additional testing of the PCAS is needed to conclude if it is sensitive enough to evaluate interventions aimed at improving novice nurses competence and suitable as a guide for reflection for novice nurses.

Peer Review reports

Background

Novice nurses typically receive a comprehensive theoretical education but there are indications in Western culture that they are poorly prepared for practical clinical work [1]. A growing number of interventions have been suggested and implemented to address this alleged lack of work preparedness. These include simulation training in nursing education [2, 3], internship/residency programs, standardized nurse orientation, simulation-based graduate programs and mentorship/preceptorship for new nurses [4]. Gradate nurses entering practice today encounter a health care system characterized by workforce shortages, economic restrictions, complex organizations and increasing patient acuity. In addition, the body of knowledge is increasing exponentially along with development of new technologies that can influence practice [5]. This raises debate as to whether it is realistic to assume that novice nurses have the ability to work independent when entering the profession [6].

Benner [7] has described the difference between experienced nurses and novice nurses in complex nursing practice. She suggests that in the acquisition and development of skills nurses pass through five levels of proficiency which reflect changes in two general aspects of skill performance; the use of concrete experience (not mere passage of time) rather than abstract principles and a change in the perception and understanding of demanding situations. These changes mean that nurses see situations as less of a compilation of equally relevant parts and more as a complete whole in which only certain parts are relevant.

Acute care situations represent a particular situation in which novice nurses feel unprepared and experience a sense of overwhelming responsibility [8]. Despite being novice or experienced, the nurse is expected to respond as frequently and competent in acute situations so as to prevent adverse events and improve patient outcome [9] . The concept ‘acute’ is somewhat unclear even if it is commonly used in both clinical and theoretical contexts. The semantic definition of ‘acute’ is sharp and intense. Synonyms also suggest something that is temporal, rapid or swift [10]. In a study describing the acute situation as a phenomenon from the perspective of novice nurses, acute situations have been considered to include significantly more than just the state of a clinically deteriorating patient. Acute situations involve situations where something happens suddenly, time is insufficient, one’s own competence is perceived as inadequate, responsibility is overwhelming, organizational deficiencies become apparent and when there are challenges in interpersonal relations [11]. A number of issues have been identified which influence novice nurses’ ability to provide care in acute situations. Studies have indicated that personal experience of managing acute situations [9, 12, 13] and educational programs that integrate theory and practice [13, 14] are considered by nurses themselves to be key facilitators. Studies also suggests that simulation can promote the ability to care in acute situations [13, 15, 16].

Outcomes of interventions aimed at improving nurses’ ability to provide care are typically evaluated using self-report measures [2,3,4]. There are a variety of self-report measurement scales that have been developed to evaluate nurses’ competence and ability in different areas of nursing. Measures of competence are often developed from national goals or guidelines [17, 18] or on the basis of theoretical framework [19]. Other measures focus on specific skills considered essential in nursing [20, 21].

As described earlier, initiatives have been undertaken to better prepare novice nurses for practice and specifically for managing acute situations. To the authors’ knowledge however, there is currently no measurement scale constructed with the goal of evaluating novice nurses’ perceptions of their ability to care in situations which they themselves would describe as acute. Such a scale would facilitate evaluation of educational interventions and serve as a guide for novice nurses to reflect on areas they feel are problematic. The aim of this study was to develop and examine the psychometric properties off a scale that measures novice nurses self-reported perception of their ability to care in acute situations.

Methods

Scale development

The construct to be measured by the Perception to Care in Acute Situations (PCAS) scale is, novice nurses’ perceived ability to care in acute situations. For the purpose of development, a novice nurse was defined as an individual who has worked in the profession for less than 1 year. The demarcation of less than 1 year of working experience was based upon Benner’s novice to expert theory [7].

The term ‘ability’ was considered to reflect perceived performance on a variety of tasks, described in the specific items within the scale and considered as a requirement of nurses who provide care in acute situations. Care was defined as actions taken by the nurse with the aim of improving health and reducing suffering [22]. Acute situations were considered as those perceived by novice nurses themselves as being acute. This could include situations in which something happens suddenly and the care situation changes or the perception that there is insufficient time in relation to the tasks that must be performed. A common example of an acute situation would be when the patient suffers from a sudden illness [11].

Item generation

An inductive approach was used to generate potential items for the PCAS scale [23, 24]. Items were based upon interviews (n = 17) conducted in two previously published studies with novice nurses. These studies investigated participants’ perception of acute situations and identified factors which are considered necessary in developing the ability to care in acute situations [11, 13].

The initial pool of items for the PCAS scale (n = 40) was generated by the first author and later discussed within the research team. Use of a team to develop items took advantage of that people articulate similar ideas in diverse ways [25]. During discussions with the research team, several items were deleted, rewritten and added. When consensus was reached, the total number of items was 45. Eleven of these were background questions while the remaining 34 items addressed ability to care in acute situations. These 34 items were subsequently assessed for content validity.

Content validity

Content validity of items was assessed by a group of experts and by a group representing the target population (novice nurses). The expert panel was contacted by the first author via e-mail and comprised of four individuals who were recruited on the basis that they had well documented clinical experience and/or research experience on the topic [26]. Experts were all registered nurses and had knowledge of acute care and nursing education. They varied in sex, age, type of clinical experience and clinical specialization. The panel consisted of a nursing program director with a doctoral degree from a university in Sweden, a lecturer in nursing with responsibility for a course in acute care assessment, a senior lecturer with doctoral degree specializing in emergency care and an experienced registered nurse employed within a medical ward and responsible for introducing novice nurses to the ward. The panel of experts were requested to independently comment on the relevance of specific items and the structure of the scale. They were asked to e-mail their responses to the first author.

The group of novice nurses representing the target population were recruited by the first and second authors on the basis that they worked in somatic care in different regions of Sweden. They comprised of one man working in an accident and emergency ward and one woman working on a medical acute care ward. For these individuals cognitive interviewing was used as a measure of content validity [23]. We used a combination of thinking-aloud (were subjects are instructed to “think aloud” when answering the questions) and probing (were the interviewer asks for information relevant to the question or answer given) [27]. The first interview was based upon the first draft of the scale while the second was based upon the revised version.

After receiving feedback from the expert group and following the cognitive interviews, items were revised for increased clarity and face validity. When modifications had been made, a second cognitive interview was performed with one novice nurse. The research team then met to discuss each item and reach consensus about the final items to include in the scale. Consensus was reached on 33 items. All 33 required a response on a four-point Likert scale. An even 4-point scale was chosen so as to force respondents to clearly express their perceived ability to care in acute situations [24]. The response categories ranged from strongly disagree to strongly agree and very poor to very good.

All items were entered into a web-based survey program (Sunet Survey, version 4.3.9.5, Artisan Global Media, Sweden) and a link to the questionnaire was generated to allow for anonymous login.

Psychometric testing

Sample selection and recruitment

A sample of novice nurses were recruited to participate in psychometric testing of the scale. The sample included novice registered nurses who had been working for less than a year in a somatic ward at a hospital in Sweden. Nurses were recruited by contacting representatives from county and university hospitals within each of the 21 healthcare regions of Sweden. Representatives were requested to distribute an e-mail invitation to staff who met the inclusion criteria. The invitation included details of the study, information that participation was anonymous and voluntary, contact information for the researchers and a link to the web-based questionnaire. Participants were encouraged to share the link with other novice nurses who met the inclusion criteria for this study. There is no consensus among experts on how large of a sample is needed to test scales. Recommendations are however available regarding subject (respondent) to item ratios and total sample size [25]. The sample size was subsequently determined using the recommended minimum subject/item ratio of > 5:1 [28] or at least 200 respondents [23].

Data analysis

Descriptive and frequency statistics were used to analyze missing data, errors, demographics, frequency of endorsements and discrimination within items.

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to test the construct validity of the scale [29]. Given the ordinal nature of the data, factorability was investigated by assessing polychoric correlation [30]. Factorability was assumed if item total correlations >.30 [24], Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) > 0.6 and Bartlett’s test of sphericity [28].

Construct validity, item reduction and underlying dimensions between the measured variables and the latent construct were assessed using EFA [29] with ordinary least squares [31]. As we expected some correlation between factors, oblique rotation was used [32].

The number of factors to retain in the model was determined using a scree plot, parallel analysis, Eigenvalue > 1 and Velicer MAP. At least three items were required within each factor [32].

Items were deleted if there were factor loadings <.32, [29, 32] or cross-loading (i.e. discrimination between factors) < .20.

Internal consistency was evaluated using polychoric corrected item - total correlations and ordinal alpha [23, 33]. For comparative purposes we also present Cronbach’s alpha ≥.70 [23]. All statistical analysis was performed in R statistical software 3.5.3 [34] with Psych package 1.8.12 [35]. and the R-studio interface version 1.2.1335.

Ethical considerations

This study did not involve patients, relatives or sensitive personal information. As such the study did not fall within the boundaries of the Ethical Review Act 2003:460 [36], which regulates all types of research involving humans in Sweden and was not required to be submitted for ethical approval, locally or nationally. The research was however conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Declaration of Helsinki [37]. This has been done by ensuring that participation in the study was anonymous and ensuring that it was not possible for anyone in the research team to identify any of the nurses responding to the survey. Consent to participate was assumed if nurses chose to complete the web-based questionnaire.

Results

Representatives from 14 of the 21 healthcare regions in Sweden agreed to contact staff meeting the inclusion criteria. The sample represented 33 hospitals (both county and university hospitals) and a total of 227 participants completed the survey. No missing data was recorded as the electronic questionnaire could not be submitted if there was any missing data. Seventeen participants were excluded as they did not fulfil the inclusion criteria of having worked less than 1 year within somatic care. One additional participant was excluded as they did not indicate how many months they had been working after graduation. Demographic descriptions of the remaining 209 respondents are presented in Table 1, (Fig. 1)

Table 1 Respondents demographics
Fig. 1
figure 1

Flow chart of the PCAS development process

Frequency of endorsement of respondent categories as a measure of item discrimination (i.e. variation in respondents) showed 9 problematic items with zero endorsement in the first response category. These types of items do not improve psychometric properties [24] and were subsequently put aside but not discarded due to their theoretical importance [38]. To see the all 33 items, please refer to the supplementary table with item data description.

Correlations for the remaining set of 24 items was ≥0.40–0.73. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test for sampling adequacy was >.91 and Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant, K-squared = 129.06, df = 23, p = < 0.001. The scree plot for the 24 items indicated a four-factor solution while parallel analysis of polychoric correlations suggested a three-factor solution. Eigenvalue >1 indicated a four-factor solution and the Velicer MAP achieved a minimum of 0.02 with 3 factors.

We subsequently tested a four-factor solution. For every item deleted, in accordance to the pre-established criteria; factor loadings <.32, or cross-loading (i.e. discrimination between factors) < .20. a new EFA was run and the factor loading matrix was analyzed. This was done to ensure that item deletion did not change the factor structure, cross-loadings or factor loadings [28].

After deletion of numerous items, it was apparent that the four-factor solution did not fulfil the pre-established requirement of three items in each factor solution.

A three-factor model was then attempted based on the parallel analysis and Velicer MAP which had indicated three factors. The same factor model approach and predetermined rules as the four-factor model were used. This model resulted in a 16-item solution that was judged as clear and comprehensible and fulfilled all criteria.

Given that the 9 items removed during the initial analysis of response frequencies were considered to be theoretically important, an attempt was made to further analyze them in the same way as the other items. Results from the scree plot and a parallel analysis on these items indicated that a three-factor solution would be most appropriate. Therefore, we conducted an EFA with ordinary least square and oblique rotation, direct oblimin displaying the three-factor solution on the 9 items. The items with the strongest loading for each of the three factors were then added to the 16-item scale resulting in a total of 19 items.

An EFA on the 19-items resulted in a cross-loading and deletion of two items, in accordance to the pre-established criteria. Additional re-run of the EFA displayed a good three factor fit that was judged as theoretically sound, clear, comprehensible and fulfilling all criteria. The pattern matrix is presented in Table 2. Factors were named, 1/” confidence in provision of care” [10 items], 2/ “communication” [4 items] and 3/ “patient perspective” [3 items] including a total of 17 items.

Table 2 Pattern matrix of loadings score with oblique (oblimin) rotation (N = 209)

Ordinal alpha was calculated for each item to determine the relative effects on the scale as a whole and the consequence of removing an item on each factor. Ordinal alpha values did not necessitate deletion of any items. Inter item correlations were then investigated between factors and finally the item total correlations for the whole scale, presented in Table 3.

Table 3 Item correlations in factors

Discussion

This study aimed to develop and examine the psychometric properties of a scale that measures novice nurses self-reported perception of their ability to provide care in acute situations. Such a scale could be considered as a useful tool to evaluate the relative effects of initiatives designed to better prepare novice nurses for acute situations and fulfils a need expressed by several authors who have called for new educational initiatives to better prepare nurses for clinical work [9, 12, 15, 39].

The PCAS scale contains 17 items grouped into three factors. The three factors, EFA modeling -” confidence in provision of care” [10 items], 2/ “communication” [4 items] and 3/ “patient perspective” [3 items] are considered relevant to provision of care in acute situations and have been highlighted in previous literature. Porter et al. [40] and Smith et al. [41] have suggested that self-confidence is a key component for clinical performance while improvement in self-confidence for nurses has been suggested as necessary to ensure appropriate care [42]. Effective communication has been indicated by Robertson-Preidler [43] as critical in identifying patient specific needs and risks as well as enabling shared decision making which is important for providing appropriate care. Finally, maintaining a patient perspective is considered a basis of caring science [44].

Item reduction for the PCAS scale was performed using EFA. This method is typically applied in the early stage of scale development as a means of generating hypotheses about underlying processes and consolidating data [29]. There is however, little consensus in the literature regarding decision rules when performing EFA [32]. Our choices are subsequently the result of iterative discussions within the research team with the aim of developing a valid scale that measures novice nurses self-reported perception of ability to care in acute situations.

Validity of the scale was evaluated using cognitive interviewing of novice nurses. Use of the target group to evaluate the scale was important as nobody is more expert in this area than novice nurses themselves [27]. An expert panel of four individuals was also recruited to evaluate content validity of the items. The fact that these experts were independent from the research team is considered a strength of the study [23]. The number of individuals in the expert group is consistent with recommendations [24]. The decision to use a four-point response option to avoid “fence sitting” and force a choice was discussed carefully within the research team and was tested without issue in the cognitive interviews. Given the aim of the scale was to measure self-reported perception of the ability to care and to facilitate the possibility of reflection and discussion over areas in need of improvement, it was considered important that respondents take a stand. One has either the ability to perform or solve a task or not. Indifference was not considered to be a viable option.

Ordinal alpha and Cronbach’s alpha were used to evaluate reliability. While ordinal alpha was considered most appropriate, due to the ordinal nature of the scale, we chose to also report Cronbach’s alpha to allow for comparison with other scales which frequently report this statistic. Both alpha levels were over 0.9. It is commonly accepted that Alpha levels should be at least 0.8 for basic research and 0.9 for clinical instruments [24]. It is important to clarify that ordinal alpha is conceptually equivalent to Cronbach’s alpha though it is performed on polychoric correlations [33].

The PCAS scale is considered to be valid but further investigation is necessary before the scale can be fully implemented. A necessary step will be to trial the scale in clinical practice (i.e. evaluation of interventions and as a guide for reflection), test stability of the factors and establish cut off scores.

As discussed earlier the term ‘acute situations’ is an ambiguous concept [10] and not related to a specific care situation or medical condition [11]. It is also important to recognize that novice nurses can be grouped into different levels of proficiency reflecting their relative experience of providing care in acute situations [7]. We suggest that the PCAS scale could be used to classify novice nurses according to their level of perceived proficiency. This has implications for design of educational initiatives such as simulation-based training which can be customized to the individual nurses’ level of proficiency as well as in relation to those areas perceived as problematic by the novice nurse. Such a simulation would support Benner’s [7] Novice to Expert theory by giving the nurses experience of acute situations and the opportunity to self-reflect over performance and the influences of their decision making.

The authors acknowledge several limitations in the development and testing of the PCAS scale. Despite our best attempts, the number of participants is in the lower range of recommendations for this type of study [23]. One reason for this is that not all regions in Sweden chose to participate in this study. Regional representatives indicated that participation was limited by workload and organizational issues. There were however also regions that did not respond to our enquiry. The number of novice nurses who actually received information about the study is not known as not all hospitals reported the number of nurses invited to participate. It should be recognized that sample size for scale development is restricted by the resources available [23]. This might force a sample size that is adequate but not ideal [28] and it is acknowledged that the model would be less stable because of this.

Another limitation is that the web-based scale required participants to submit their responses by pressing a send button. If the participant did not press this button, no answers was recorded. In the material we have seen that over 90 respondents started the survey but did not submitted it. Reasons for this can only be speculated as data collection was anonymous.

In conclusion, the PCAS scale has proven to have acceptable validity. The factors,” confidence in provision of care”, “communication” and “patient perspective” support previous literature which highlight these areas as important aspects of providing care in acute situations. Additional testing of the PCAS is needed to conclude if it is sensitive enough to evaluate interventions aimed at improving novice nurses competence and suitable as a guide for reflection for novice nurses. The PCAS scale has potential for use in evaluating training interventions for novice nurses and as a basis for discussion and reflection regarding areas in which novice nurses require additional support and training.

Conclusions

The PCAS scale has proven to have acceptable validity. The factors,” confidence in provision of care”, “communication” and “patient perspective” are likely to be important aspects of providing care in acute situations. Additional testing of the PCAS is needed to conclude if it is sensitive enough to evaluate interventions aimed at improving novice nurses competence and suitable as a guide for reflection for novice nurses.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

EFA:

Exploratory factor analysis

KMO:

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin

PCAS:

Perception to Care in Acute Situations scale

References

  1. Edward K-L, Ousey K, Playle J, Giandinoto J-A. Are new nurses work ready – the impact of preceptorship. An integrative systematic review. J Prof Nurs. 2017;33(5):326–33.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Cant RP, Cooper SJ. Use of simulation-based learning in undergraduate nurse education: an umbrella systematic review. Nurse Educ Today. 2017;49:63–71.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Cantrell MA, Franklin A, Leighton K, Carlson A. The evidence in simulation-based learning experiences in nursing education and practice: an umbrella review. Clin Simul Nurs. 2017;13(12):634–67.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Edwards D, Hawker C, Carrier J, Rees C. A systematic review of the effectiveness of strategies and interventions to improve the transition from student to newly qualified nurse. Int J Nurs Stud. 2015;52(7):1254–68.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Wolff AC, Pesut B, Regan S. New graduate nurse practice readiness: perspectives on the context shaping our understanding and expectations. Nurse Educ Today. 2010;30(2):187–91.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Missen K, McKenna L, Beauchamp A. Registered nurses’ perceptions of new nursing graduates’ clinical competence: a systematic integrative review. Nurs Health Sci. 2016;18(2):143–53.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Benner P. From novice to expert. The American Journal of Nursing. Menlo Park: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 1984;82(3):402–7. http://0-www-jstor-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/stable/3462928. Accessed 23 May 2012.

  8. Duchscher JEB. Transition shock: the initial stage of role adaptation for newly graduated registered nurses. J Adv Nurs. 2009;65(5):1103–13.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Purling A, King L. A literature review: graduate nurses’ preparedness for recognising and responding to the deteriorating patient. J Clin Nurs. 2012;21(23/24):3451–65.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Gabrielsen E, Lindström UÅ, Nåden D. Acute - an ambiguous concept in healthcare. Scand J Caring Sci. 2009;23(3):589–97.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Sterner A, Ramstrand N, Nyström M, Hagiwara MA, Palmér L. Novice nurses’ perceptions of acute situations–a phenomenographic study. Int Emerg Nurs. 2018;40:23–8.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Della Ratta C. Challenging graduate nurses’ transition: care of the deteriorating patient. J Clin Nurs. 2016;25(19–20):3036–48.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Sterner A, Hagiwara MA, Ramstrand N, Palmér L. Factors developing nursing students and novice nurses’ ability to provide care in acute situations. Nurse Educ Pract. 2019;35:135–40.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Strand G: Uppföljning av nyutexaminerade sjuksköterskor – Enkätundersökning bland Sjuksköterskor och chefer, våren 2010. ISBN nr 978–91–7164-612-5; 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Herron EK. New graduate nurses’ preparation for recognition and prevention of failure to rescue: a qualitative study. J Clin Nurs. 2018;27(1–2):e390–401.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Abelsson A, Bisholt B. Nurse students learning acute care by simulation–focus on observation and debriefing. Nurse Educ Pract. 2017;24:6–13.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Nilsson J, Johansson E, Egmar A-C, Florin J, Leksell J, Lepp M, Lindholm C, Nordström G, Theander K, Wilde-Larsson B. Development and validation of a new tool measuring nurses self-reported professional competence—the nurse professional competence (NPC) scale. Nurse Educ Today. 2014;34(4):574–80.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Kennedy E, Murphy GT, Misener RM, Alder R. Development and psychometric assessment of the nursing competence self-efficacy scale. J Nurs Educ. 2015;54(10):550–8.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Meretoja R, Isoaho H, Leino-Kilpi H. Nurse competence scale: development and psychometric testing. J Adv Nurs. 2004;47(2):124–33.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Oetker-Black SL, Kreye J, Underwood S, Price A, DeMetro N. Psychometric evaluation of the clinical skills self-efficacy scale. Nurs Educ Perspect. 2014;35(4):253–6.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Rautava V-P, Palomäki E, Innamaa T, Perttu M, Lehto P, Palomäki A. Improvement in self-reported confidence in nurses’ professional skills in the emergency department. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2013;21(1):16.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Arman M, Dahlberg K, Ekebergh M. Teoretiska grunder för vårdande: Liber; 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Boateng GO, Neilands TB, Frongillo EA, Melgar-Quiñonez HR, Young SL. Best practices for developing and validating scales for health, social, and behavioral research: a primer. Front Public Health. 2018;6:149.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Streiner DL, Norman GR, Cairney J. Health measurement scales: a practical guide to their development and use. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015.

  25. Polit DF, Beck CT. Nursing research : generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer; 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Davis LL. Instrument review: getting the most from a panel of experts. Appl Nurs Res. 1992;5(4):194–7.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Willis GB. Cognitive interviewing: a tool for improving questionnaire design: sage publications; 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Worthington RL, Whittaker TA. Scale development research: a content analysis and recommendations for best practices. Couns Psychol. 2006;34(6):806–38.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Tabachnick BG, Fidell LS, Ullman JB. Using multivariate statistics, vol. 5. Boston: Pearson; 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  30. James B. Improving your exploratory factor analysis for ordinal data: a demonstration using FACTOR. Pract Assess Res Eval. 2014;19(5):1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Gaskin CJ, Happell B. On exploratory factor analysis: a review of recent evidence, an assessment of current practice, and recommendations for future use. Int J Nurs Stud. 2014;51(3):511–21.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Osborne JW, Costello AB, Kellow JT. Best practices in exploratory factor analysis. Best Pract Quant Methods. 2008;1:86–99.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Gadermann AM, Guhn M, Zumbo BD. Estimating ordinal reliability for Likert-type and ordinal item response data: a conceptual, empirical, and practical guide. Pract Assess Res Eval. 2012;17:3.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Team RC: R: a language and environment for statistical computing. 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Revelle W. Psych: procedures for personality and psychological research. Evanston: Northwestern University; 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  36. SFS 2003:460: The Act concerning the Ethical Review of Research Involving Humans. Stockholm: Ministry of Education and Research; 2003.

  37. World Medical Association. World medical association declaration of Helsinki ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. JAMA. 2013;310(20):2191–4.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Rattray J, Jones MC. Essential elements of questionnaire design and development. J Clin Nurs. 2007;16(2):234–43.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Massey D, Chaboyer W, Anderson V. What factors influence ward nurses’ recognition of and response to patient deterioration? An integrative review of the literature. Nursing Open. 2017;4(1):6–23.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Porter J, Morphet J, Missen K, Raymond A. Preparation for high-acuity clinical placement: confidence levels of final-year nursing students. Adv Med Educ Pract. 2013;4:83.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  41. Smith J, Rushton M. Improving student nurses’ confidence in managing the acutely ill patient. Br J Nurs. 2018;27(3):124–9.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Hart PL, Spiva L, Baio P, Huff B, Whitfield D, Law T, Wells T, Mendoza IG. Medical-surgical nurses’ perceived self-confidence and leadership abilities as first responders in acute patient deterioration events. J Clin Nurs. 2014;23(19–20):2769–78.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Robertson-Preidler J, Biller-Andorno N, Johnson TJ. What is appropriate care? An integrative review of emerging themes in the literature. BMC Health Serv Res. 2017;17(1):452.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  44. Arman M, Ranheim A, Rydenlund K, Rytterström P, Rehnsfeldt A. The Nordic tradition of caring science: the works of three theorists. Nurs Sci Q. 2015;28(4):288.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the respondents in this study for participating and express our gratitude to all the people who assisted us to spread information about this study to novice nurses. We would also like to thank Laura Darcy PhD for help with translations.

Funding

Open access funding provided by University of Boras.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

AS, ES, LP, NR and MH conceived and designed the study. AS and ES supervised data collection. AS, ES, NR, and MH analysed the data. AS, ES, LP, NR and MH prepared and approved the manuscript. The authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anders Sterner.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethical approval for this study was waived by the national Ethical Review Act 2003:460 [36] since this study did not involve patients, relatives or sensitive personal information. The research was however conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Declaration of Helsinki [37]. This has been done by ensuring that participation in the study was anonymous and ensuring that it was not possible for anyone in the research team to identify any of the nurses responding to the survey. Consent to participate was assumed if nurses chose to complete the anonymous web-based questionnaire. This fulfills the conditions specified in the Act concerning the ethical review of research involving humans 2003:460 [36].

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Additional file 1.

Supplementary table with Item data description.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sterner, A., Säfström, E., Palmér, L. et al. Development and initial validation of an instrument to measure novice nurses’ perceived ability to provide care in acute situations – PCAS. BMC Nurs 19, 13 (2020). https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1186/s12912-020-0406-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1186/s12912-020-0406-3

Keywords