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Background: The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) has developed the Spiritual Well-being Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-SWB32), a measure of spiritual well-being validated with people receiving palliative care for cancer, although its usefulness is not restricted to that population. We aimed to translate and validate this tool in Finnish and to study the relationship between spiritual well-being (SWB) and quality of life (QOL). Methods: A Finnish translation was produced according to the guidelines of EORTC and included forward- and back-translations. Face, content, construct and convergence/divergence validity and reliability were studied in a prospective manner. QOL was assessed with EORTC QLQ-C30 and 15D questionnaires. Sixteen individuals participated in the pilot testing. 101 cancer patients drawn from oncology units, and 89 patients with other chronic diseases drawn from religious communities in different parts of the country participated in the validation stage. Retest was obtained from 16 individuals (8 cancer and 8 non-cancer patients). Inclusion criteria included patients with either a well-defined palliative care plan, or who would benefit from palliative care, as well as the capacity to understand and communicate in Finnish. Results: The translation appeared understandable and acceptable. Factorial analysis identified four scoring scales with high Cronbach alfa values: Relationship with Self (0.73), Relationship with Others (0.84), Relationship with Something Greater (0.82), Existential (0.81), and, additionally, a scale on Relationship with God (0.85). There was a significant correlation between SWB and QOL in all participants. Conclusions: The Finnish translation of EORTC QLQ-SWB32 is a valid and reliable measure both for research and clinical practice. SWB is correlated with QOL in cancer and non-cancer patients undergoing palliative care or who are eligible for it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The purpose of this study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of the new Cultural and Linguistic Diversity scale, which is designed to be used with the newly validated Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher scale for assessing international nursing students' clinical learning environments. Background In various developed countries, clinical placements are known to present challenges in the professional development of international nursing students. Design A cross-sectional survey. Methods Data were collected from eight Finnish universities of applied sciences offering nursing degree courses taught in English during 2015-2016. All the relevant students ( N = 664) were invited and 50% chose to participate. Of the total data submitted by the participants, 28% were used for scale validation. The construct validity of the two scales was tested by exploratory factor analysis, while their validity with respect to convergence and discriminability was assessed using Spearman's correlation. Results Construct validation of the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher scale yielded an eight-factor model with 34 items, while validation of the Cultural and Linguistic Diversity scale yielded a five-factor model with 21 items. Conclusion A new scale was developed to improve evidence-based mentorship of international nursing students in clinical learning environments. The instrument will be useful to educators seeking to identify factors that affect the learning of international students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To develop and perform reliability and validity assessments of the international Multidimensional Nursing Generations Questionnaire. Background There are three generations of nurses in the European workforce. There is little research on the characteristics of these generations and the ways in which to manage them professionally, and no instrument has yet been developed to measure these aspects specifically. Methods With results from previous studies, 69 nursing generations-oriented items were created in English, translated into Italian and Finnish, and pretested to form the basis of an instrument that was tested between September and October 2014 on a sample of Finnish and Italian nurses ( n = 1302) using principal component analysis and Cronbach's alpha. Results Fifty-four items and eight components (Cronbach's α range: 0.61-0.81) were identified in the instrument: (1) conflicts between generations; (2) patient safety view; (3) relationships between generations; (4) working as a multigenerational team; (5) orientation to change; (6) presenteeism and job propensity; (7) intention to leave, and (8) flexibility and availability. Conclusions The instrument showed acceptable preliminary psychometric properties and satisfactory internal consistency. Implications for nursing management The Multidimensional Nursing Generations Questionnaire is a useful tool to measure the characteristics of different generations of nurses and to develop management strategies tailored to those generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: The Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher (CLES+T) scale measures student nurses’ perceptions of clinical learning environments. This study evaluates the construct validity and internal reliability of the CLES+T in hospital settings in New Zealand. Comparisons are made between New Zealand and Finnish data. Methods: The CLES+T scale was completed by 416 Bachelor of Nursing students following hospital clinical placements between October 2008 and December 2009. Construct validity and internal reliability were assessed using exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha. Results: Exploratory factor analysis supports 4 factors. Cronbach’s alpha ranged from .82 to .93. All items except 1 loaded on the same factors found in unpublished Finnish data. The first factor combined 2 previous components from the published Finnish component analysis and was renamed: connecting with, and learning in, communities of clinical practice. The remaining 3 factors (Nurse teacher, Supervisory relationship, and Leadership style of the manager) corresponded to previous components and their conceptualizations. Conclusion: The CLES+T has good internal reliability and a consistent factor structure across samples. The consistency across international samples supports faculties and hospitals using the CLES+T to benchmark the quality of clinical learning environments provided to students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rewarding is a powerful way to recognize, manage, and retain staff. However, the perceptions of registered nurses (RNs) toward rewarding have not yet been extensively examined in nursing studies. It is important to identify optimal and potentially innovative ways to reward RNs by taking their perceptions into consideration. Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop and psychometrically test the Registered Nurses' Perceptions of Rewarding Scale (RNREWS). Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used. The scale was developed in the three phases of item generation, content validity testing, and examination of psychometric properties. Tests of the scale included evaluation of content validity, exploratory factor analysis, parallel analysis, and internal consistency tests using Cronbach's alpha. Survey participants included 402 RNs working in Finnish healthcare in Autumn 2015. Results: The RNREWS was found to have acceptable construct validity and good internal consistency. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that a 66-item scale with a 14-factor structure fits the data best. The final scale includes two subscales. The first is "reward type preferences" with 61 items covering 13 factors, and the second is "significance of rewarding" with five items covering one factor. The two sets of items accounted for 73.1% and 58.5% of the variance in responses and earned Cronbach's α values of.90 and.80, respectively. Conclusions: The RNREWS is a valid and reliable instrument for acquiring knowledge regarding the perspective of RNs on rewarding in the nursing context. The results enhance the understanding of the range of rewards that may be implemented in the nursing profession and may assist human resources managers and administrators to formulate effective reward systems for their RNs to improve the rewarding and retention of nursing professionals. However, cultural equivalence and linguistic differences must be considered if this scale is to be applied in other countries or environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]