Validation of the Simplified Chinese Palliative Care Nursing Self-Competence Scale: Two Cross-sectional Studies

Abstract

Background: Due to the increasing burden of life-limiting illnesses, the need for palliative care has increased. Nurses’ palliative care competence is a vital factor in improving its accessibility. A reliable instrument is needed to measure nurses’ competence in providing palliative care. Objective: Our aim was to translate and culturally adapt the Palliative Care Nursing Self-Competence Scale (PCNSC) into the Palliative Care Nursing Self-Competence Scale–Simplified Chinese (PCNSC-SC). Methods: Two cross-sectional studies were conducted after content validity had been confirmed during the instrument’s translation and adaption. The convergent validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and homogeneity were evaluated in both the first and second studies. Test-retest reliability was assessed only in the first study. Clinical nurses who had a registered nurse qualification certificate and at least 12 months of work experience from a tertiary hospital in Hubei, China participated in the 2 studies. Results: The PCNSC-SC contains 8 dimensions and 34 items, based on goodness-of-fit indices and confirmatory factor analysis. The Cronbach’s alpha of the PCNSC-SC was .984 and .990 in the 2 studies, respectively. The test-retest reliability of the PCNSC-SC after 2 weeks was .717. Conclusion: The PCNSC-SC can be used to evaluate perceived self-competence in palliative care of Chinese nurses with good reliability and validity.