Validity and Reliability of the Neonatal Palliative Care Attitude Scale in Turkey

This study aimed to establish the validity and reliability of the Neonatal Palliative Care Attitude Scale in Turkey.

This methodological study was conducted between December, 2014, and July, 2017, in the neonatal intensive care unit of 4 hospitals (2 public, 1 university, and 1 private hospital) in the center of a city in eastern Turkey. The study population consisted of all the nurses of the hospitals. No sampling was performed, and the sample consisted of 145 nurses who agreed to participate in the study. The 26-item Neonatal Palliative Care Attitude Scale developed by Kain et al. (2009) was translated into Turkish and then back-translated into English for to determine the validity for Turkey. Experts were consulted to determine the validity of the content. Cronbach's alpha coefficient, test-retest reliability, and item-total correlation were used for reliability. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used for validity.

Content validity index ranged from .8 to 1.0. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was .934, for which the Bartlett's test of sphericity was χ² = 415.127, p = .000. According to the principal component analysis, the Neonatal Palliative Care Attitude Scale in Turkey. had 3 subscales as did the original Neonatal Palliative Care Attitude Scale. The items had factor loadings greater than .40, and the factors accounted for 55.51% of the total variance. The subscales "organization," "resources," and "clinician" had a Cronbach's alpha of .692, .710, and .680, respectively.

The Neonatal Palliative Care Attitude Scale in Turkey. has a structure similar to that of the original Neonatal Palliative Care Attitude Scale and has high validity and reliability. It is, therefore, a valid and reliable instrument that can be used to identify nurses' attitudes toward neonatal palliative care.