The Adaption of the Work Environment Survey for Public Health Nurses

The study presents the iterative process of the adaption and psychometric properties evaluation of the Work Environment/Support/Encouragement section of the Revised Casey-Fink Nurse Retention Survey^© (2009) to measure the work environment of public health nurses (PHNs). This secondary data analysis was based on data collected from a convenience sample of 596 PHNs across North Carolina that were originally used to study PHNs workforce retention. Classical test theory analyses were used to evaluate scale reliability and identify potential problematic items that were further examined from a substantive perspective using content validity survey. Confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis were performed to evaluate the construct validity and assist further development of the scale. Analyses suggest a three-factor structure for the retained 19-item scale including managerial support, professional nursing role, and recognition, with reliability ranging from alpha of .859 to .959.