Development and testing of the Satisfaction in Nursing Scale

Because work satisfaction of nurses is related negatively to turnover and related positively to performance, it is essential that it be assessed accurately and meaningfully. The most commonly used scales for assessment of satisfaction were developed at least 30 years ago and are not consistent with the concerns of today's nurses.

The objectives of this study were to develop and test a new work satisfaction measure, the Satisfaction in Nursing Scale (SINS).

On the basis of qualitative interviews with 20 nurses, 115 distinct items pertaining to work satisfaction as a nurse were identified. After assessment for content validity, 113 items remained. A total of 787 participants were used for the initial analyses of the SINS. Data from an additional 366 participants were used to confirm the factor structure and to assess the convergent validity of the SINS further.

Exploratory factor analysis yielded a scale with 59 items on four factors, accounting for 41% of the variance in scores. Reliability estimates for the SINS factors range from.81 to.94. All four factors were confirmed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), with an additional 4 items removed. The SINS factors correlated moderately with a measure of organizational commitment (r =.40-.62). Moderate correlations were also found between the SINS and the counterpart factors of the Hinshaw and Atwood Work Satisfaction Scale.

The SINS is a sound work satisfaction instrument. Next steps include further construct validity assessment and exploration of the use of the SINS in other clinical settings.