Development, reliability, and validity of the nurses' conscientious objection attitude scale (COAS-N)

Area of Science:

• Nursing Ethics
• Healthcare Professional Attitudes
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Conscientious objection in nursing presents ethical challenges, impacting patient care access.
• No existing tools measure nurses' conscientious objection attitudes.
• Understanding these attitudes is crucial for ethical healthcare practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a measurement tool for nurses' conscientious objection attitudes.
• To provide a psychometrically sound instrument for research and practice.

Main Methods:

• Methodological study with 261 nurses in Turkiye.
• Content validity assessed by 10 experts; a 29-item draft scale developed.
• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, reliability (Spearman-Brown, ICC, Bland Altman), and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) were performed.

Main Results:

• The Nurses' Conscientious Objection Attitude Scale (COAS-N) was developed, containing 29 items.
• The scale has three sub-dimensions: prioritizing professional values, personal values, and requesting the right to object.
• The scale demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.81).

Conclusions:

• The COAS-N is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring nurses' conscientious objection attitudes.
• This scale can be used to further investigate nurses' ethical considerations in practice.
• The findings support the use of the COAS-N in research and clinical settings.