Development and Validation of the Soft Skills Questionnaire for Nurses

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Healthcare Professional Development
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Employee performance is significantly impacted by skills, necessitating professional development for nurses.
• Ongoing training is crucial for nurses to stay updated with new techniques and interpersonal skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a questionnaire assessing nurses' communication and management skills, emotional intelligence, and confidentiality.
• The study focused on nurses in Lebanon.

Main Methods:

• A 25-item questionnaire was created by nursing and soft skills experts.
• Validity was assessed using face, content, and construct methods. Psychometric properties, including internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and reliability, were evaluated.
• Factor analysis with Oblimin Rotation was employed to determine the number of factors.

Main Results:

• The questionnaire demonstrated strong validity, with high item-level content validity (I-CVI) and scale-level composite validity (S-CVI/Ave).
• Psychometric measures were satisfactory, including Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (0.680) and Bartlett's test (p<0.001).
• High internal consistency was confirmed with Cronbach's alpha of 0.824.

Conclusions:

• The 25-item Soft Skills Questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument.
• It effectively evaluates nurses' communication, emotional intelligence, confidentiality, and management skills.