title: Development and psychometric testing of the nurses' attitudes toward obesity and obese patients (NATOOPS) scale.
abstract: This study was designed to develop and test an instrument to measure nurses' attitudes towards obesity and obese adult patients. Items were based on an earlier version of the instrument, obesity discrimination research, and clinical experience. After content validation of items, the instrument was sent to 1,400 randomly selected Registered Nurses. Factor analysis yielded a 5-factor solution, with 36 items reaching loadings of .4 or greater. Cronbach's alpha was .81 for the reduced scale, with a range of .45 to .79 on the five factors. Construct validity was supported by significant differences between contrast groups on three factors and consistency with underlying theory. Overall the instrument demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties and could be used in future research.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Lorraine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oberle
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Deutscher
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000451:nursing*; D011287:Prejudice; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires