Abstract\nBackground: Novice nurses need to be better prepared to provide care in acute situations. There is currently no\nvalidated scale specifically measuring nursesâ?? perception of their ability to provide care in acute situations. The aim\nof this study was to develop and examine the psychometric properties of a scale that measures novice nurses selfreported\nperception of ability to provide care in acute situations.\nMethod: Development and test of the psychometric properties of the Perception to Care in Acute Situations\n(PCAS) scale. Items were generated from interviews with novice nurses (n = 17) and validated using opinions of an\nexpert panel and cognitive interviews with the target group.\nTwo hundred nine novice nurses tested the final scale. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to test construct\nvalidity, item reduction and underlying dimensions between the measured variables and the latent construct.\nResult: The PCAS scale contains 17 items grouped into three factors. EFA demonstrated a clean three factor logic\nconstruct solution with no cross-loadings, high correlation for the total scale in both Cronbachâ??s alfa 0.90 and\nordinal alpha 0.92.\nConclusions: The PCAS scale has proven to have acceptable validity. The factors,â? confidence in provision of careâ?,\nâ??communicationâ? and â??patient perspectiveâ? are likely to be important aspects of providing care in acute situations.\nAdditional testing of the PCAS is needed to conclude if it is sensitive enough to evaluate interventions aimed at\nimproving novice nurses competence and suitable as a guide for reflection for novice nurses.\nKeywords: Nursing, Education, Educational measurement, Psychometrics, Self report, Acute
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