Nurses' Involvement in Patients' Dying and Death: Scale Development and Validation

This study reports the development of a measurement scale, The Nurses' Involvement in Patients' Dying and Death Scale (NIPDYDS), which fully captures the experiences of nurses caring for patients' dying and death. Potential items were extracted from narrative data gathered systematically and comprehensively from in-depth interviews with nurses engaged in caring for patients' dying and death. Factor analyses revealed four factors, consisting of 40 total items, with two factors related to the positive aspects of the experience (Deep involvement in facing dying and death and Increased competence in facing dying and death) and two factors related to the negative aspects of the experience (Uncertainty and difficulty dealing with dying and death and Accustomed to dying and death). Validity and reliability of the scale were found to be acceptable. The factorial structure of the NIPDYDS was contrasted to Frommelt's (1991) FATCOD (The Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale), and the usefulness and limitations of the NIPDYDS were discussed.