The practice environment scale of the nursing work index short form in Turkish: a psychometric study

The work environment is a concept encompassing factors that increase or decrease a nurse's ability to practice the nursing profession competently and provide high-quality care. This study aims to adapt the short form of the Nursing Work Index-Nursing Work Environment Assessment Scale, which is used in many countries to evaluate the nursing work environment, to Turkish.

The study sample consisted of 711 nurses. For this study, data were collected from the researchers' personal social media accounts (WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and Instagram) between October and December of 2024. The Turkish version of the short form of the Practice Environment Scale from the Nursing Work Environment Index was used to collect the data. After creating the Turkish version of the instrument through translation and back-translation and collecting data, the researchers conducted content validity analyses, construct validity tests, and internal consistency analyses to assess the instrument's psychometric properties.

The items' content validity ratios were 0.93, and correlation coefficients varied between 0.605 and 0.523. The one structure accounted for 56.122% of the total variance. PES-5 scale findings: χ²/df 3.76, CFI 0.973, TLI 0.946, SRMR 0.031, RMSEA 0.090, CR 0.62. The standardized factor loadings for the scale items ranged from 0.610 to 0.743. The scale was compatible with its five items and one-factor structure The items' standardized factor loadings ranged from 0.370 to 0.575. The Cronbach's alpha consistency value was 0.804.

A short form of the practice environment scale of the Nursing Work Index is a valid and reliable tool in Turkish.