Development and Validation of the Professional Fit Scale in Nursing

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Workforce Management
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Assessing professional fit is crucial for effective healthcare workforce management.
• Understanding nurses' professional fit impacts service quality, patient safety, and satisfaction.
• Existing tools may not comprehensively capture the multifaceted nature of professional fit in nursing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Professional Fit Scale in Nursing (PFSN).
• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the PFSN.
• To provide a reliable instrument for assessing nurses' professional fit.

Main Methods:

• A scale development and validation study conducted in three phases: item creation, preliminary assessment, and psychometric evaluation.
• Data collected from 720 nurses in Istanbul between May and September 2021.
• Construct validity, reliability analyses, content validity, and face validity were assessed.

Main Results:

• The final 56-item, 9-subscale PFSN explained 68.06% of the total variance.
• Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) indicated acceptable model fit.
• High internal consistency (α=0.97) and strong test-retest reliability (ICC=0.99) were confirmed.

Conclusions:

• The PFSN is the first tool designed to measure nurses' professional fit across nine key domains.
• The scale exhibits robust reliability, validity, and psychometric properties.
• The PFSN can be utilized for identifying job mismatches, career planning, and shaping human resource policies in nursing.