A new scale for disaster nursing core competencies : Development and psychometric testing
- Authors: Al Thobaity, Abdulellah , Williams, Brett , Plummer, Virginia
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal Vol. 19, no. 1 (2016), p. 11-19
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Background: All nurses must have core competencies in preparing for, responding to and recovering from a disaster. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), as in many other countries, disaster nursing core competencies are not fully understood and lack reliable, validated tools. Thus, it is imperative to develop a scale for exploring disaster nursing core competencies, roles and barriers in the KSA. Objectives: This study's objective is to develop a valid, reliable scale that identifies and explores core competencies of disaster nursing, nurses' roles in disaster management and barriers to developing disaster nursing in the KSA. Methods: This study developed a new scale testing its validity and reliability. A principal component analysis (PCA) was used to develop and test psychometric properties of the new scale. The PCA used a purposive sample of nurses from emergency departments in two hospitals in the KSA. Participants rated 93 paper-based, self-report questionnaire items from 1 to 10 on a Likert scale. PCA using Varimax rotation was conducted to explore factors emerging from responses. Findings: The study's participants were 132 nurses (66% response rate). PCA of the 93 questionnaire items revealed 49 redundant items (which were deleted) and 3 factors with eigenvalues of >1. The remaining 44 items accounted for 77.3% of the total variance. The overall Cronbach's alpha was 0.96 for all factors: 0.98 for Factor 1, 0.92 for Factor 2 and 0.86 for Factor 3. Conclusions: This study provided a validated, reliable scale for exploring nurses' core competencies, nurses' roles and barriers to developing disaster nursing in the KSA. The new scale has many implications, such as for improving education, planning and curricula. © 2015.
Perceptions of knowledge of disaster management among military and civilian nurses in Saudi Arabia
- Authors: Al Thobaity, Abdulellah , Plummer, Virginia , Innes, Kelli , Copnell, Beverley
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal Vol. 18, no. 3 (2015), p. 156-164
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Summary Background It is generally accepted that nurses have insufficient knowledge about disaster preparedness due to a lack of acceptance of core competencies and the absence of disaster preparedness in nursing curricula.1 This study explored nurses’ knowledge and sources of knowledge, and skills as they relate to disaster management in Saudi Arabia, where more than 4660 people have died, 32,000 people have been affected, and US$4.65 billion in damage has been caused by disaster since 1980.2 Methods A quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive research design. Results Nurses in Saudi Arabia have moderate knowledge concerning disaster preparedness. However, nurses in military hospitals possess more knowledge than those who work in government hospitals. The majority of nurses gained their knowledge and skills from disaster drills. Conclusions Nurses need more education in all areas of disaster management, most importantly in their roles during response to disasters. Nurses perceive themselves as not well-prepared but they are willing to improve their skills in disaster preparedness if educational opportunities are provided.