Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the spiritual care competency scale in nursing practice: a methodological study

Palliative care and spiritual care competency measurement among Turkish Nurses: A scale adaptation study

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to conduct a Turkish validity and reliability study of the Palliative Care Spiritual Care Competency Scale.

METHODS

The sample of the study consisted of 354 nurses. In the first stage, the forward-backward translation method was used to develop the Turkish version of the Palliative Care Spiritual Care Competency Scale. The comprehensibility, purposefulness, cultural appropriateness, and discrimination of the scale items were evaluated with content validity. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied to examine the construct validity of the scale. To evaluate the ability of the scale to give consistent results at different time intervals, the relationship between the scores obtained from the first and second applications was examined with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The reliability of the scale was evaluated with the Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient and item-total score correlation coefficients.

RESULTS

The content validity index of the Palliative Care Spiritual Care Competency Scale was found to be 0.98 after expert opinion was obtained. The goodness-of-fit values of the scale were χ2/sd: 3.125; GFI: 0.915; AGFI: 0.875; IFI: 0.926; TLI: 0.905; CFI: 0.925; RMSEA: 0.078; SRMR: 0.054. As a result of CFA, some items were removed from the scale, and a Turkish version of the scale consisting of 14 items and three sub-dimensions was developed. The reliability of the scale over time was evaluated with the test-retest method, and it was found that the inter-response agreement was very good (ICC: 0.981; p < 0.001). The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was 0.89 and the Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of the subscales ranged between 0.78 and 0.85.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

It was determined that the Turkish version of the Palliative Care Spiritual Care Competency Scale is a short, easy-to-understand, and psychometrically sound measurement tool that can be safely applied to Turkish nurses.

SPACEE Protocol: "Spiritual Care Competence" in PAlliative Care Education and PracticE: Mixed-Methods Research in the Development of Iberian Guidelines

Spiritual care requires understanding the spiritual experiences of patients and recognizing their resources and needs. Therefore, educators and practitioners should develop their knowledge and understanding in this regard. Spiritual care helps people overcome their anxieties, worries, and suffering; reduces stress; promotes healing; and encourages patients to find inner peace. To provide comprehensive and appropriate care while upholding human/ethical virtues, the spiritual dimension must be a priority. We aim to develop spiritual care competence guidelines for Palliative Care (PC) education and practice in Portugal and Spain. The study detailed in this protocol paper will include three phases. In phase I, the phenomenon will be characterized and divided into two tasks: (1) a concept analysis of "spiritual care competence"; and (2) a systematic review of interventions or strategies used to integrate spiritual care in PC education and practice. Phase II will entail a sequential explanatory approach (online survey and qualitative interviews) to deepen understanding of the perceptions and experiences of educators, practitioners, and patients/family carers regarding spiritual care in PC education and practice and generate ideas for the next steps. Phase III will comprise a multi-phased, consensus-based approach to identify priority areas of need as decided by a group of experts. Results will be used to produce guidelines for integrating spirituality and spiritual care competence within PC education and practice and synthesized in a white book for PC professionals. The value of this improved examination of spiritual care competence will ultimately depend on whether it can inform the development and implementation of tailored educational and PC services. The project will promote the 'spiritual care' imperative, helping practitioners and patients/family carers in their preparedness for End-of-Life care, as well as improving curricular practices in this domain.

Association between spiritual care competency and perceived professional benefit among nurses: A cross-sectional study

AIMS

This study aimed to investigate the status quo of nurses' spiritual care competency and their relationship with perceived professional benefit.

BACKGROUND

Spiritual care has always been considered a vitally important part of holistic nursing. Understanding the spiritual care competency of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic can help nursing managers understand the weak links in spiritual care practice and improve the quality of nursing service. As a positive emotional experience and cognitive evaluation of the profession, perceived professional benefit can serve to adjust work pressure, relieve job burnout, and promote an individual's overall growth. However, the relationship between perceived professional benefit among nurses and spiritual care competency remains unclear.

METHODS

A total of 372 nurses were recruited from 15 separate Chinese hospitals. An online questionnaire was used to assess nurses' sociodemographic, spiritual care competency, and perceived professional benefit. Statistical analyses were performed using Pearson's correlation analysis, t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multiple stepwise linear regression analysis.

RESULTS

The total mean score of spiritual care competency (99.43 ± 21.10) among nurses was found to be moderate. Nurses' spiritual care competency was positively correlated with perceived professional benefit (P < .01). The multiple stepwise linear regression model (n = 372) had an explained variance (R² = 0.218) and showed that perceived professional benefit and the manner of receiving spiritual training were the main influencing factors of nurses' spiritual care competency (P < .001).

CONCLUSION

The study findings indicated that nurses need to improve their spiritual care competency by improving their perceived professional benefit.

IMPLICATION FOR NURSING MANAGERS

Our study evaluated the spiritual care competency of nurses and explored the correlation between perceived professional benefit and spiritual care competency among nurses. The results of this study can help nursing managers to carry out relevant interventions, thus improving nurses' spiritual care competency and optimizing the quality of nursing.

Validity and reliability of the spiritual care competency scale for oncology nurses in Taiwan

Background

Nurses must have spiritual competence to provide holistic patient care. Therefore, the designed instrument to assess nurses’ competence could be a practical guide for health care professionals. This study aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the spiritual care competency scale (SCCS) for oncology nurses in Taiwan.

Methods

This study used a convenience sample from a regional teaching hospital in Taiwan from November 2017 to February 2019, who were asked to complete the SCCS. We employed scale-content validity index (S-CVI). Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was also used to evaluate the structural factor of SCCS. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) verified the construct validity of SCCS scale for oncology nurses in Taiwan. Test–retest reliability were also measured in this study at 2-week interval.

Results

The average S-CVI of SCCS was 0.96. The EFA produced four factors of 27 items, such as professionalization, improving the quality of spiritual care, personal support, patient counseling and referral, attitude towards patient spirituality and communication, assessment, implementation providing and evaluation of spiritual care. Fitting the 27 items yielded an acceptable model fit; X²/df = 2.41, RMSEA = 0.08, GFI = 0.80, AGFI = 0.80, CFI = 0.92, IFI = 0.92, NFI = 0.90, RFI = 0.90, TLI = 0.91, SRMR = 0.06. Cronbach’s alpha values were between 0.93 and 0.95, and the total Cronbach’s alpha was 0.96. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) scores were between 0.43 and 0.88.

Conclusions

The result of this study demonstrated satisfactory validity and reliability for the SCCS in the nursing field in Taiwan. Implications for practice in this study serves as a reference for effectively evaluating nursing competency in spiritual care.

Psychometric properties of the Breast Cancer Awareness Measurement among Chinese women: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES

To perform the cross-cultural adaption of the Breast Cancer Awareness Measurement (BCAM) and to test its psychometric properties among Chinese women.

DESIGN

This is a cross-sectional study.

SETTINGS

This study was conducted in communities, schools and institutions in Changchun, Jilin Province, China.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 328 women voluntarily participated in and completed the Chinese version of the BCAM (C-BCAM), resulting in an effective response rate of 91.1%.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

Psychometric properties, including item analysis (the extreme group comparison and item-total correlations), content validity (item-level content validity index (I-CVI) and scale-level content validity index (S-CVI)), construct validity (exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)) and internal consistency (Cronbach's α and test-retest reliability), were measured.

RESULTS

The C-BCAM has excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.90), with alpha coefficients of 0.88, 0.84 and 0.94 for its three domains. The test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.72. The I-CVI ranged from 0.86 to 1.00, and the S-CVI was 0.92. CFA showed that the three-factor model explained 51.56% of the total variance, with a good model fit (likelihood ratio χ²/df=1.86, incremental fit index=0.94, comparative fit index=0.94, goodness-of-fit index=0.84, adjusted goodness-of-fit index=0.80, standardised root mean square error of approximation=0.06 and root mean square residual=0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The C-BCAM has satisfactory validity and reliability and is a culturally appropriate and reliable tool for evaluating breast cancer awareness among Chinese women. This reliable instrument can help researchers and health professionals evaluate women's knowledge about the symptoms and risk factors of breast cancer and identify their barriers to seeking medical help. It also helps healthcare providers identify women with poor breast cancer awareness and encourage them to perform screening practice.