Dealing with Emotional Vulnerability and Anxiety in Nurses from High-Risk Units-A Multicenter Study

What motivates students to pursue a career in gerontological nursing? The cultural adaptation and validation of the Spanish version of the CMGN questionnaire

Background

Career motivation toward gerontological nursing (CMGN) has been studied by various authors. It is essential to identify the influencing factors and guarantee that undergraduate nursing degrees provide adequate social and healthcare responses to the current demand for gerontological care. Objective: In the absence of a validated instrument to measure students' career motivation in geriatric nursing in our sociocultural context, this study aimed to adapt and validate the original questionnaire Chinese CMGN. Methods: Cross-sectional data from 316 nursing students were collected in May 2021. The cultural and linguistic adaptation process was conducted in accordance with the recommendations of Ramada-Rodilla and Beaton. A committee of experts was established to assess content validity. The CMGN questionnaire consists of 20 items divided into 2 subscales: "Expectancy" (6 items) and "Values" (14 items). To determine the psychometric properties, the following analyses were carried out: content validity (Aiken's V coefficient and Pearson's coefficient of variation), internal consistency (Cronbach's α) and construct validity (confirmatory factor analysis and convergent and divergent validity). To verify the model once the parameters were estimated, we calculated the goodness-of-fit between the model and the data. Data analyses were performed using SPSS for Windows (IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0) and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS 27.0).

Results

A total of 316 nursing students were surveyed, of which 91.1% were women and the mean age was 21.61 ± 5.45 years (range: 18-56). The results indicate that the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were adequate in terms of content and construct validity. The internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha for both subscales was greater than 0.8. The AMOS results revealed that the final model fit statistics of CMIN/df (2.204), GFI (0.922), CFI (0.948) and RMSEA (0.062) indicated a satisfactory model fit. Finally, an original second-order model was obtained, resulting in the Spanish version of the CMGN (SV-CMGN) instrument. Conclusions: We developed a valid SV-CMGN questionnaire that is socially and culturally adapted to the Spanish context and is capable of measuring the motivation of nursing students toward a career in gerontological nursing, from the newest to the most experienced. This new version opens up the possibility of studying the phenomenon of motivation in other Spanish-speaking countries. Keywords: Gerontological nursing; Motivation; Students, nursing; Validation study; Surveys and questionnaires.

Austerity Measures and Underfunding of the Spanish Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic-Perception of Healthcare Staff in Spain

Insufficient pandemic preparedness and underfunding of human and economic resources have conditioned the response to COVID-19 in Spain. This underfunding has continued since the austerity measures introduced during the 2008 financial crisis. This study aims to understand the perceptions of healthcare staff in Spain on the relationship between the funding of the health system and its capacity to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, we carried out a thematic content analysis, based on 79 online semi-structured interviews with healthcare staff across the regions most affected by the COVID-19 first wave. Participants reported a lack of material resources, which had compromised the capacity of the health system before the pandemic. The lack of human resources was to be addressed by staff reorganisation, such as reinforcing hospital units to the detriment of primary health care. Staff shortages continued straining the COVID-19 response, even after material scarcities were later partially alleviated. Personnel shortages need to be adequately addressed in order to adequately respond to future health crises.