Psychometric validation of the Chinese version of the Second Victim Experience and Support Tool (C-SVEST)

To translate and assess the reliability and validity of the C-SVEST scale.

Nurses in patient safety incidents, the second victim, may also be traumatized in Western studies, but there is a lack of relevant researches and validated scales in China.

A cross-sectional study of 1,442 nurses in China was conducted with the C-SVEST questionnaire. Raw data were randomly divided into two parts for exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, to evaluate the construct validity. Content validity and reliability were tested by content validity index and Cronbach's α coefficients, respectively.

Six-factor structure was emerged, and it explained 68.62% of the total variance. The good fit of the six-factor model was acceptable, and standardized factor loading ranged from 0.62 to 0.89. Cronbach's α coefficient of the scale was 0.866, and each dimension ranged from 0.713 to 0.896. Content validity index at the scale level was 0.99, and content validity index at the item level was 0.89-1.

The C-SVEST scale has excellent psychometric properties, which can be applied to measure second victims experience and support level in patient safety incidents.

A reliable and valid instrument is available for leaders to identify the impact of patient safety incidents in nurses, and promote their health through effective interventions.