[Development of the Developmental Support Competency Scale for Nurses Caring for Preterm Infants]

Area of Science:

• Neonatal Nursing
• Pediatric Development
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Developmental care is crucial for preterm infant health and development.
• Assessing nursing competency in developmental care requires further research.
• A validated tool is needed to measure nurses' developmental support skills for premature infants.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a new scale measuring nursing competency for developmental support of preterm infants.
• To provide a reliable instrument for assessing nurses' skills in neonatal developmental care.
• To establish a psychometrically sound tool for advancing developmental care practices.

Main Methods:

• Concept analysis using the Hybrid model of Schwartz-Barcott and Kim.
• Development of a preliminary 30-item scale.
• Data collection from 122 NICU nurses across 4 hospitals in South Korea (Dec 2014-Mar 2015).

Main Results:

• The final Developmental Support Competency Scale for Nurses (DSCS-N) has 19 items on a 4-point Likert scale.
• The scale comprises 6 factors: environmental support, parental support, interaction, critical thinking, professional development, and partnership.
• The scale explained 62.5% of total variance, with a Cronbach's α of .83.

Conclusions:

• The DSCS-N demonstrates acceptable validity and reliability for assessing nursing competency in developmental care.
• This scale can be utilized to evaluate the impact of educational programs for NICU nurses.
• The DSCS-N contributes to advancing developmental care for preterm infants.