Development and Testing of a Pediatric Nurse Parent Partnership Scale

Purpose: This study was done to develop and test a scale to measure the partnership between pediatric nurses and hospitalized children's parents. Methods: Instrument development process included construct identification based on concept analysis using the hybrid model of Shuwartz-Barcott and Kim (2000), a process which generated 42 initial items. This number was reduced to 35 items through content validity tests by 5 experts and face validity tests by 5 pediatric nurses and 5 parents of hospitalized children. The preliminary Pediatric Nurse Parent Partnership Scale (PNPPS) was administered to 186 pediatric nurses and 163 parents at eleven children's wards in four hospitals. Data were analyzed using item analysis, factor analysis, Pearson correlation coefficients, and Cronbach's alpha. Results: Thirty-four items were selected for the final scale. Seven factors evolved from the factor analysis, which explained 68.4% of the total variance. The internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha, was .96 and reliability of the subscales ranged from .66 to .93. Conclusion: The PNPPS demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability. It can be used to assess the partnership of pediatric nurses and parents in practice and research.