Development and Validation of the Turkish Version of the Attitude Toward Professional Autonomy Scale for Nurses

Autonomy in nursing practice is one of the recurring fields in literature of research. For nurses to be autonomous is considered to have a great importance on the quality of healthcare services. This study aimed to examine the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Attitude Toward Professional Autonomy Scale for Nurses. This methodological study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional design. The study was done in a secondary care hospital. Sample group includes 199 nurses that work at a secondary care hospitals. It was carried out while culturally adjusted and it also included two-way translations of English version of the Attitude Toward Professional Autonomy Scale for Nurses. To evaluate its validity, LISREL statistics software was used to make confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistency was evaluated by using Cronbach's α and total-item correlations. Average age of the sample group was found 28.35 ± 6.16. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded t-scores, which were significant for all the 18 items (p < .05). Fit indices of the model, resemblance rate chi-square statistics were identified as 𝜒 ²/df = 198.01/132 = 1.50. The Cronbach's alpha of the scale (.918) was indicative of strong internal consistency. The scale demonstrated strong validity and internal consistency. This scale can be used to assess perceptions of nursing practices that enhance the quality of nursing care.