Faculty Perceptions of Workload: A Human Factor's Approach to Instrument Development

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education Research
• Human Factors Engineering
• Occupational Health Psychology

Background:

• Current nursing faculty workload metrics fail to encompass the multifaceted nature of faculty responsibilities.
• A human factors approach was employed to address the subjective and complex dimensions of nursing faculty workload.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a new instrument, the Nurse Faculty Workload Assessment (NFWA), for evaluating nursing faculty workload.
• To incorporate the subjective perceptions of faculty into workload assessment.

Main Methods:

• Survey data collected from 565 nursing faculty members.
• Psychometric properties of the developed instrument were established using statistical analysis.

Main Results:

• Sections 1, 2, and 3 of the NFWA demonstrated strong reliability and internal consistency.
• Results confirmed the interrelationships between activity complexity, performance conditions, and individual characteristics, aligning with human factors workload theories.

Conclusions:

• The NFWA offers a valuable tool for administrators to assess nursing faculty's perception of workload expectations.
• Further research is recommended to refine the NFWA and compare its findings with existing workload calculation methods across diverse nursing programs.