Designing a Scale to Assess Family Nursing Practice among Public Health Nurses in Japan ()
Affiliation(s)
1Department of Family Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
2Department of Global Health, Graduate School of Health Sciences, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan.
3Japanese Nursing Association, Tokyo, Japan.
4Department of Human Sciences, Faculty of Law and Letters, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan.
ABSTRACT
Background: The promotion of family nursing by public health nurses (PHN)
presupposes an accurate assessment of the family nursing support they already
provide. However, as there is no assessment tool for this purpose, this
study aimed to develop a scale to assess family nursing currently provided by
PHN. Methods: We developed the Family Nursing Practice Scale (FNPS) for
PHN based on the results of a previous study. The content validity of the
FNPS was established through discussion with three other researchers. A pilot
study was conducted to confirm face validity. To confirm reliability and validity,
an anonymous, self-reported questionnaire was sent to PHN working in
municipal offices. The statistical analyses included the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin
(KMO), Barlett’s Test of Sphericity, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), Cronbach’s
alpha, correlation coefficient and t-test. Results: Seven hundred fifty-four PHN participated in this study. Cronbach’s alpha of FNPS was 0.94.
The KMO measure was 0.948, and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity was p < 0.01.
Two factors together accounted for 63.2% of the variance in EFA. No items
were excluded because of low loadings. Construct validity was confirmed
through comparison with categories from a previous study. The correlation
coefficient of FNPS and selected items of the Practice of Breastfeeding Support
Scale was r = 0.56 (p < 0.01). The result of the t-test showed that the
FNPS score of PNH who had received training in family nursing was significantly
higher than that of PHN who had not (t = -2.0; p < 0.05). Conclusion:
The reliability and validity of the FNPS were confirmed. The FNPS comprised
15 items and two factors. The score for “Active support for the family” was
lower than “Support given with awareness of the family’s situation.” The
findings of this study strongly suggested that the FNPS would be effective in
clarifying the current state of family nursing provided by PHN and factors related
to this activity and thus greatly assist the efforts of PHN to promote family nursing.
Share and Cite:
Toyama, N. , Kurihara, K. , Muranaka, M. , Shirai, K. and Kamibeppu, K. (2017) Designing a Scale to Assess Family Nursing Practice among Public Health Nurses in Japan.
Health,
9, 1019-1028. doi:
10.4236/health.2017.97074.