The psychological capital questionnaire for newly licensed nurses: A validity and reliability study

Abstract

Background: Newly licensed nurses face great challenges after transitioning from classroom to workplace. As a positive psychological resource, psychological capital can maintain the mental health of nurses. However, there is no instrument dedicated to the psychological capital of new nurses. Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of psychological capital questionnaire for nurses in newly licensed nurses. Design: An exploratory, cross-sectional, and methodological design was performed. Setting: Newly licensed nurses were recruited through convenience sampling from July to October 2023 in Chengdu city, China. Participants: The study included 357 newly licensed nurses from five tertiary hospitals. Methods: The general demographic questionnaire, Psychological Capital Questionnaire for Nurses, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and Compassion Fatigue - Short Scale were used to investigate the newly licensed nurses. The reliability and validity of psychological capital questionnaire for nurses were verified by item analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation test and other statistical methods. Results: The questionnaire showed a 6-factor structure, namely confidence, hope, resiliency, collaboration communication, responsibility and emotional intelligence, and consisted of 30 items. Item analysis showed that all scores of items were normally distributed. In confirmatory factor analysis, the factor loading of each item ranged from 0.833 to 0.962. The fit indexes of the questionnaire were CMIN/df=3.711, NFI=0.922, IFI=0.941, TLI=0.933, CFI=0.941, RMSEA=0.087. Cronbach’ s alpha of the total scale and six sub-dimension were between 0.738 to 0.880. Besides, the test-retest correlation values of total score and dimensions were found range from 0.529 to 0.631 (P<0.01). Conclusions: The psychological capital questionnaire for nurses was shown to be a valid and reliable measurement tool using in newly licensed nurses, which was worthy of popularization and next-step study.