RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: To develop the Psychiatric Nurse Self-Efficacy Scales, and to examine their reliability and validity. DESIGN: We developed the Improved Self-Efficacy Scale (ISES) and Decreased Self-Efficacy Scale (DSES) using existing evidence. Statistical analysis was conducted on the data to test reliability and validity. SETTING: The study's setting was psychiatric facilities in three prefectures in Japan. PARTICIPANTS: Data from 514 valid responses were extracted of the 786 responses by psychiatric nurses. OUTCOME MEASURES: The study measured the reliability and validity of the scales. RESULTS: The ISES has two factors ('Positive changes in the patient' and 'Prospect of continuing in psychiatric nursing') and the DSES has three ('Devaluation of own role as a psychiatric nurse', 'Decrease in nursing ability due to overload' and 'Difficulty in seeing any results in psychiatric nursing'). With regard to scale reliability, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.634-0.845. With regard to scale validity, as the factorial validity of the ISES and DSES, for the ISES, χ2/df (110.625/37) ratio=2.990 (p<0.001), goodness-of-fit index (GFI)=0.962, adjusted GFI (AGFI)=0.932, comparative fit index (CFI)=0.967 and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA)=0.062; for the DSES, χ2/df (101.982/37) ratio=2.756 (p<0.001), GFI=0.966, AGFI=0.940, CFI=0.943, RMSEA=0.059 and Akaike Information Criterion=159.982. The concurrent validity of the General Self-Efficacy Scale was r=0.149-0.446 (p<0.01) for ISES and r=-0.154 to -0.462 (p<0.01) for DSES, and the concurrent validity of the Stress Reaction Scale was r=-0.128 to 0.168 for ISES, r=0.214-0.398 for DSES (p<0.01).Statistical analyses showed the scales to be reliable and valid measures. CONCLUSIONS: The ISES and DSES can accurately assess psychiatric nurses' self-efficacy. Using these scales, it is possible to formulate programmes for improving psychiatric nurses' feelings of self-efficacy.