How Factor Analysis Results May Change Due to Country Context

Area of Science:

• Nursing research
• Health services research
• Psychometrics

Background:

• The Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) is a crucial tool for assessing nursing work environments.
• Cross-cultural adaptation of assessment tools is essential for valid international comparisons.
• Understanding how country context influences instrument factor structures is vital for accurate interpretation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how factor analysis results of a Polish translation of the PES-NWI are affected by the country's specific context.
• To assess the validity and reliability of the adapted Polish version of the PES-NWI.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional national survey of 2,605 registered nurses in 30 Polish hospitals.
• Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation.
• Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to evaluate the factor structure.

Main Results:

• Principal Component Analysis extracted six factors, explaining 56% of the variance.
• Varimax rotation yielded five factors, explaining 52.7% of the variance, aligning more closely with previous studies.
• Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicated that a five-factor model, derived from PCA, provided a better fit to the data than a theoretically driven model.

Conclusions:

• While the dimensions of nurses' work environments measured by the PES-NWI are conceptually consistent in Poland, their factor loadings differ.
• Country-specific factors within the health system or nursing profession may explain these variations.
• Results underscore the need to consider contextual differences when utilizing PES-NWI translations for policy-making.