Attitudes towards Nursing Diagnosis: application of the Position on Nursing Diagnosis scale in Canary Islands

Abstract

Introduction: Nurses have different opinions and attitudes about the clinical functionality of Nursing Diagnosis. Objective: To describe the attitudes of Nursing professionals towards the Nursing Diagnosis. Method: observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study in a hospital in the Canary Islands (Spain). Position on Nursing Diagnosis is a validated instrument to measure the attitudes of nurses towards the Nursing Diagnosis with excellent reliability. It is made up by a coded scale of 20 pairs of opposite adjectives in which the interviewed must position himself; extreme scores 1 (most negative attitude) and 7 (most positive attitude); 4 middle value; 140 maximum score and 20 minimum one. Reliability analysis was performed using Cronbach's alpha and inter-element correlation. Frequency distribution for qualitative variables and proportion for quantitative variables. Association analysis. Results: The study population was N=170. The scale has shown high reliability (α=0.955) as well as adequate power to explain the total variance (66.13%). The global mean score was 74.41 (sd=23.53); the worst attitude was Routine (μ=2.91; sd=1.55) while the best attitude was Positive (μ=4.20; sd=1.56). Conclusions: The attitudes of the nurses in our environment are similar to other contexts, with global scores lower than the average. The increase in academic training and the use of the Nursing Diagnosis in the work environment seem to improve the attitudes of this professionals, mainly with regard to acceptance, comfort, ease, relevance, validity, creativity and gratification.