Development and Validation of the Family and Community Nursing Advanced Practice Scale.

AIM

To develop and test a Family and Community Nursing-Advanced Practice Scale.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional and methodological scale validation design, following classical test theory.

METHODS

Three phases, the first of which involved scale development, including item generation. Phase two assessed the content validity index. The third phase involved a cross-sectional survey to establish construct validity, content validity, internal consistency reliability, and exploratory factor analysis.

RESULTS

The Family and Community Nursing Advanced Practice Scale has good construct validity, with the final scale consisting of 5 domains and 27 items. This was confirmed by both the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The Cronbach's Alpha is very good, suggesting that the scale is reliable. When comparing family practice advanced practice nurses with those working in the community, the results show that scores are similar except for clinical reasoning and health promotion, which consistently showed statistically significant higher scores among the family practice nurses. While community nurses scored higher on items in the leading practice domain reflecting their role in a wider team of nurses.

CONCLUSION

This study developed and psychometrically tested the Family and Community Nursing-Advanced Practice Scale. The scale has good reliability, and analysis of the construct validity reveals five domains of advanced practice among this practitioner group.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION

The study suggests that advanced practice nurses working in community roles perform similar activities to those working in family practice in the United Kingdom. However, activity related to research was less evident.

IMPACT

The study examined the scope of the advanced practice nurse role in family and community nursing. The study illustrated practice across five domains: clinical care, leading practice, clinical reasoning, health promotion, and ethics. The family practice and wider community roles were largely homogenous, with only two items showing a statistically significant difference in scores.

REPORTING METHOD

STROBE guidelines for cross-sectional studies.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

No patient or public contribution.