Desire to Work in Nursing Instrument (DeWoNu-I)

Abstract

The Desire to Work in Nursing Instrument (DeWoNu-I), developed by Talman et al. in 2023, is a concise, 14-item questionnaire designed specifically to assess the motivational factors and commitment of applicants entering the nursing profession. This instrument was created to address a critical gap in existing psychological measures by focusing on the specific construct of intrinsic and extrinsic desire to work in this demanding field.

The development process was rigorous, incorporating focus group interviews, a comprehensive literature review, and expert evaluations. A meta-ethnographic approach was employed to synthesize initial qualitative data, resulting in the identification of 27 foundational elements grouped into four theoretical categories: Nature of the work, Career opportunities, Suitability for nursing, and Previous experiences. While the scale is theoretically structured across these four domains, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) conducted on data from Finnish nursing applicants suggested that a robust one-factor solution provided the best statistical fit, supporting its use as a measure of a single underlying construct: overall desire to work in nursing.

Keywords

Career Opportunities, Desire to Work, Nature of the Work, Nursing Applicants, Previous Experiences, Suitability for Nursing, Career Development, Occupational Choice, Occupational Interest Measures, Work Attitudes, Psychometric testing.

Authors

Talman, Kirsi; Mäntylä, Henna; Hupli, Maija; Kanerva, Anne-Maria; Engblom, Janne; Haavisto, Elina

Purpose

The primary purpose of the DeWoNu-I is to serve as a standardized, psychometrically sound tool for evaluating the desire of applicants to pursue a career in the nursing field. This measure aims to provide objective data on the motivational commitment of prospective students, which is considered a crucial attribute for success and retention in the profession.

The instrument is intended for use by universities and educational institutions during the admissions process to help identify candidates who possess a strong vocational interest and alignment with the demands of the nursing profession.

Construct

The DeWoNu-I measures the multidimensional construct of the Desire to Work in Nursing, which is theoretically derived from four key domains identified through meta-ethnographic synthesis:

• Nature of the work: Items focusing on the intrinsic rewards and variety of nursing tasks.
• Career opportunities: Items addressing perceived potential for professional growth, specialization, and job security.
• Suitability for nursing: Items related to self-perception of vocational fit, including personality characteristics and altruistic motivation (e.g., the desire to help others).
• Previous experiences: Items measuring prior exposure to, and positive interest in, the nursing role, including familiarity with hospital environments and health-related matters.

Despite this four-domain theoretical foundation used for item generation, the empirical factor structure suggests that the scale functions optimally as a measure of a single, unified construct representing the applicant’s overall commitment or inclination toward the nursing profession.

Validity

The Content Validity of the DeWoNu-I was established through a rigorous, multi-round expert review process. The initial 15-item version underwent evaluation by four senior researchers with extensive experience in entrance examinations and instrument development. This process involved three rounds of feedback, leading to the removal of one item from the “Nature of the work” category and the revision of the wording of seven items in the first round. Further wording clarifications were made in the second round, resulting in the final 14-item instrument distributed across the four theoretical categories.

Construct Validity was primarily assessed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The results of the PCA provided strong evidence that a single-factor structure best represents the underlying psychological construct being measured, thereby confirming the instrument’s ability to measure the intended trait.

Reliability

The reliability of the DeWoNu-I was assessed using Internal Consistency measures. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability estimates for the four theoretical subscales demonstrated high reliability, ranging from 0.83 to 0.95. This high consistency suggests that the items within each theoretical domain are highly correlated and measure the same underlying trait.

When analyzing the overall instrument, the exclusion of individual items resulted in alpha coefficient variations ranging from 0.65 to 0.98, further confirming the robust and stable internal consistency across the entire 14-item measure, regardless of the preferred factor structure.

Factor Analysis

The psychometric evaluation included Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to determine the optimal factor structure. The initial PCA revealed a single factor with an eigenvalue greater than one, which accounted for 76% of the total variance, strongly supporting a unidimensional structure.

Although the authors explored alternative models based on the theoretical structure, neither the two-factor solution (82% variance explained) nor the four-factor solution (89% variance explained) offered a clearer or more parsimonious interpretation. Specifically, the two-factor solution resulted in a weak second factor loading on only two items. Consequently, despite the theoretical four-subscale structure used during development, the authors ultimately recommend considering the empirically supported one-factor solution for future applications of the DeWoNu-I, given its statistical strength and explanatory power.

Instrument

Test Type: Original

Format: All items are measured on a four-point Likert scale, where 1 indicates “agree” and 4 indicates “disagree.”

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human (Male and Female)

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years and older), including Young Adulthood (18-29 years), Thirties (30-39 years), and Middle Age (40-64 years).

Population Details: The instrument was administered to nursing applicants from universities of applied sciences in Finland.

Test Methodology: Test Validity, Construct Validity, Content Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Principal Component Analysis.

Keywords

Career Development, Job Applicant Attitudes, Nursing, Nursing Students, Occupational Choice, Occupational Interest Measures, Occupational Interests, Occupational Preference, Work Attitudes.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

Affiliation Email addresses:

• Talman, Kirsi: [email protected]
• Mäntylä, Henna: No data is Available
• Hupli, Maija: No data is Available
• Kanerva, Anne-Maria: No data is Available
• Engblom, Janne: No data is Available
• Haavisto, Elina: No data is Available

Correspondence Address:

Talman, Kirsi: [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Contact Publisher

Fee: No

Test Year: 2023

Reference’s

Talman, K., Mäntylä, H., Hupli, M., Kanerva, A.-M., Engblom, J., & Haavisto, E. (2023). Development and psychometric testing of an instrument to measure applicants’ desire to work in nursing. Contemporary Nurse, 59(2), 153–172. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10376178.2023.2200014

Items of the Desire to Work in Nursing Instrument (DeWoNu-I)

This measure consists of 14 items. The specific items are available in the source reference: Talman, K., Mäntylä, H., Hupli, M., Kanerva, A.-M., Engblom, J., & Haavisto, E. (2023). Development and psychometric testing of an instrument to measure applicants’ desire to work in nursing. Contemporary Nurse, 59(2), 153–172. The items can be found in Table 4, Page 167 of the article.

Nature of the work

1. Work is alternating

2. Content of the work is versatile

3. Work is mentally rewarding

Career opportunities

4. Degree enables further education
5. Degree enables specialisation in advanced training
6. Employment possibilities are good

Suitability to nursing

7. I want to help others
8. My personality is suitable for nursing profession
9. The work offers me a possibility to work with people
10. I have a calling towards nursing

Previous experiences

11. I have my own positive experiences of the work undertaken by nurses
12. The hospital environment interests me
13. I am interested in matters related to human health and well-being
14. I have taken an interest in nursing via stories told by close ones

Note. Items are rated on a four-point Likert scale (1 = agree; 4 = disagree).