Portuguese Version of the 12-Item Violence Prevention Climate Scale: Test of Psychometric Properties

Abstract

Background and Purpose: A violence prevention climate is critical for nurses' well-being but also for nursing practice and the quality of care. This study examined the reliability and factor validity of the European Portuguese version of the 12-item Violence Prevention Climate Scale (VPCS). Methods: Data came from a sample of 120 nurses providing care in Portugal. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the structural theory of the scale. Results: First and second-order confirmatory factor analysis models showed identical goodness-of-fit suggesting the adequacy of the models to the sample data. Our results also provide evidence of composite reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity. Conclusions: Consistent with previous studies, data from this study showed that the Portuguese version of the 12-item VPCS is a reliable and valid scale to evaluate nurses' perceptions of a violence prevention climate.