The psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Problem Areas in Psychological Empowerment Scale (PES): scale development

Aims. This study was conducted to adapt the Problem Areas in Psychological Empowerment Scale for use among staff nurses and to evaluate the psychometric properties. Background. Considering the importance of psychological aspects in the administration of nursing, there is a need for validated measurements in this area. Such tools make it possible to understand staff nurses as well as they serve as reliable measures when evaluating medical, psychological and educational interventions. Design. Instrument development. Methods. A convenience sample of 750 staff nurses was systematically selected from six hospitals in Harbin, China. Following the linguistic adaptation using the forward–backward translation method, the 12‐item Psychological Empowerment Scale was answered by the selected staff nurses. Statistics covered exploratory factor analysis, content validity, Cronbach’s alpha and item‐to‐total correlation. Results. In the factor analysis, a four‐factor solution was found to be reasonable with the subdimensions psychological empowerment‐related meaning problems (three items), competence problems (three items), self‐determination (three items) and impact problems (three items). Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the total score was 0·85 and varied between 0·82–0·89 in the four subscales. The item‐to‐total correlation coefficient was 0·40, and items were excluded with item‐to‐total correlation coefficient of lower than 0·40. The findings also gave support for the content validity. Conclusions. The Chinese version of the Problem Areas in Psychological Empowerment Scale seems to be reliable and valid outcome for measuring empowerment‐related psychological response in staff nurses. Relevance to clinical practice. The Psychological Empowerment Scale can be used to evaluate staff nurses’ empowerment‐related psychological response in clinical.