Psychometric Validation of the Family Nurse Caring Belief Scale in a Neonatal Nursing Population

To psychometrically validate and strengthen the construct validity of the Family Nurse Caring Belief Scale (FNCBS) with a sample of neonatal nurses.

Confirmatory factor analysis of the 25-item FNCBS, using the factor structure based on the original exploratory principal components analysis, was performed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the FNCBS with the neonatal nurse population.

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) examined the factor structure of the FNCBS using the sample of neonatal nurses. The chi-square test determined overall model fit. Comparative fit index (CFI) and Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) were both <0.90 therefore, neither of these indices indicated good fit. The root mean square of error approximation (RMSEA) of the sample data was >0.06 and the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) of the sample data is >0.08 and, therefore, the data did not demonstrate good fit. In addition, the factor correlations between the four latent variables were small. This suggests there is no parsimony and the sample data with neonatal nurses did not fit the model.

The findings suggest the FNCBS was not psychometrically validated with the population of neonatal nurses and this study was unable to strengthen the construct validity of the FNCBS beyond the pediatric nurse sample in the original study.

This study highlighted the opportunity for continued research in the area of measuring nurses' beliefs regarding the provision of family-sensitive care to families in crisis and will generate a revision of the FNCBS to incorporate concepts which are important to care for a family unit.