Development of a Scale to Measure Difficulties Nurses Experience in Providing Care for Elderly Patients with Dementia in Acute Care Hospitals

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to develop a scal (NDDC: Nurses' difficulties in dementia care) to measure difficulties nurses experience in providing care for elderly patients with dementia in acute care hospitals in Japan and evaluate the reliability and validity of the scale. Methods: Based on previous qualitative studies and a literature review, we developed an original scale to measure the kinds of difficulties nurses experience in providing care for elderly patients with dementia in acute care hospitals. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 690 nurses in charge of patients with dementia in 6 national/public acute care hospitals nationwide, and the reliability and validity of the scale were evaluated. Results: In total 567 responses (82.2%) were determined to be valid and included in the analyses. As a result of item analysis and exploratory factor analysis, 16 items and 3 factors were extracted. With a confirmatory factor analysis, the goodness of fit of the hypothetical model obtained by the exploratory factor analysis was confirmed. For reliability, Cronbach's α coefficient was .93 for all 16 items and from .82 to .91 for each of the factors. The intra-test correlation coefficient in the retest was .69, and the correlation coefficient with the external standard "Job stressors scale" was .56. Conclusion: The reliability and validity were considered to be generally good. In the future, it is desirable to conduct empirical research using this scale.