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Labor support: nurses' self-efficacy and views about factors influencing implementation
Barbara L Davies1, Ellen Hodnett
1University of Ottawa School of Nursing, Ontario, Canada. bdavies@uottawa.ca
Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing : JOGNN
|February 15, 2002
Summary
Nurses demonstrated high self-efficacy in providing labor support. Future efforts should address organizational factors like staffing and teamwork to enhance continuous support for laboring women.
Area of Science:
- Nursing Research
- Maternal Health
- Healthcare Professional Development
Background:
- Nurses play a crucial role in providing labor support to women.
- Assessing nurses' confidence and identifying barriers to labor support is essential for improving care.
- The Self-Efficacy Labor Support Scale was developed to measure this construct.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a questionnaire measuring nurses' self-efficacy for labor support.
- To explore nurses' perceptions of factors influencing their ability to provide labor support.
Main Methods:
- Two-phase study involving surveys of maternity and labor and delivery (L&D) nurses across five Canadian hospitals.
- Phase 1 focused on psychometric evaluation of the new scale.
- Phase 2 analyzed nurses' self-efficacy scores and qualitative feedback on influencing factors.
Main Results:
- The Self-Efficacy Labor Support Scale demonstrated strong reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .98) and test-retest stability (r = .93).
- L&D nurses reported higher self-efficacy than postpartum nurses (p < .0001).
- Nurses' comments identified staffing, environment, teamwork, management support, and staff attitudes as key influencing factors.
Conclusions:
- The developed scale is a reliable and valid measure of nurses' labor support self-efficacy.
- Nurses, particularly in L&D settings, exhibit high confidence in providing labor support.
- Addressing organizational factors is critical to ensure evidence-based, continuous labor support by nurses.