[Development of a nursing professional values scale].
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure nursing professional values.


METHODS
Forty preliminary items were selected by classifying 223 basic items extracted via a literature study and in-depth interviews of subjects and testing the relevance of their contents. In order to verify the reliability and relevance of the preliminary instrument, data was collected from 504 nurses in 3 general hospitals.


RESULTS
As a result of the item analysis, 29 items were selected from a total of 40 items. Five factors were extracted by factor analysis, and the total variance was 51.5%. For the explanation of variances by factors, the 1st factor, 'self-concept of the profession' accounted for 14.8%, the 2nd factor, 'social awareness' 12.1%, the 3rd factor, 'professionalism of nursing' 9.8%, the 4th factor, 'the roles of nursing service' 9.1%, and the 5th factor, 'originality of nursing', 5.6%. Cronbach's Alpha of those 29 items was .9168, which was high.


CONCLUSIONS
This paper is meaningful in a way that it developed a tool capable of measuring nursing professional values, which reflects the characteristics of our country. In order to re-verify the relevance and stability of this tool, it is necessary that comparative studies should be conducted.
Yeun
Eun-Ja
EJ
Konkuk University, Korea.
Kwon
Young-Mi
YM
Ahn
Ok-Hee
OH
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009729:Nursing; D011594:Psychometrics; D012945:Social Values