Developing and Validating the Scale of Organizational Support Needs for Nurses Returning to Work After Childbirth

Area of Science:

• Nursing Research
• Psychometrics
• Organizational Behavior

Background:

• Returning to work after childbirth presents unique challenges for nurses.
• Assessing organizational support needs is crucial for successful reintegration and retention.
• Existing tools may not adequately capture the specific support requirements of this demographic.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a psychometric scale measuring organizational support needs for nurses post-childbirth.
• To provide a reliable instrument for evaluating essential support systems in the workplace.

Main Methods:

• Instrument development involved qualitative research, literature review, and Delphi expert consultation.
• Content validity was established with an item-level content validity index ranging from 0.83 to 1.00.
• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed a 14-item scale across three dimensions, demonstrating strong psychometric properties.

Main Results:

• The final scale comprises 14 items across manager, work condition, and colleague support dimensions.
• High reliability was confirmed with Cronbach's alpha (0.939) and Spearman-Brown (0.908) coefficients.
• Structural equation modeling indicated excellent model fit, confirming construct validity.

Conclusions:

• The developed scale exhibits robust psychometric properties, proving valid and reliable.
• This instrument can be widely utilized to assess the organizational support needs of nurses returning to work after childbirth.
• Findings support improved support systems for nurse retention and well-being.