Development of a Reliable and Valid Survey Instrument to Measure Nurses' Health Behaviors Towards an Infectious...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Research
• Health Behavior Assessment
• Psychological Theory Application

Background:

• Developing a robust survey instrument is crucial for evaluating health behaviors in nursing, particularly concerning infectious disease outbreaks.
• The Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) provides a theoretical framework to understand and predict health-protective behaviors.
• Existing instruments may not adequately capture the nuances of nurses' responses to infectious disease threats.

Discussion:

• The study systematically details the instrument's development, incorporating literature review, focus groups, and rigorous validity and reliability testing.
• Principal component analysis identified key elements of the outcome variable, 'protection motivation'.
• High internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.80) supports the instrument's reliability.

Key Insights:

• A validated survey instrument was successfully developed based on PMT constructs.
• The instrument effectively measures nurses' health behaviors related to infectious diseases.
• Demonstrated a significant relationship between perceived threat and coping mechanisms.

Outlook:

• This instrument can be utilized in future research to evaluate and enhance nurses' preparedness and response to infectious disease threats.
• Further validation across diverse healthcare settings and populations is recommended.
• The findings can inform the development of targeted interventions to improve health behaviors among healthcare professionals.