title: Development and validation of scales to measure organisational features of acute hospital wards.
abstract: In order to make comparisons between wards and explain variations in outcomes of nursing care, there is a growing need in nursing research for reliable and valid measures of the organisational features of acute hospital wards. This research developed The Ward Organisational Features Scales (WOFS); each set of six scales comprising 14 subscales which measure discrete dimensions of acute hospital wards. A study of a nationally representative sample of 825 nurses working in 119 acute wards in 17 hospitals, drawn from seven Regional Health Authorities in England provides evidence for the structure, reliability and validity of this comprehensive set of measures related to: the physical environment of the ward, professional nursing practice, ward leadership, professional working relationships, nurses' influence and job satisfaction. Implications for further research are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bond
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arber
mesh_terms: D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D015401:Nursing Administration Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010559:Personnel Management / Q000592:standards*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom