Nurses’ Attitudes Regarding the Safe Handling of Patients Who Are Morbidly Obese: Instrument Development and Psychometric Analysis

Background and Purpose: Nurses’ attitudes play an important role in the consistent practice of safe patient handling behaviors. The purposes of this study were to develop and assess the psychometric properties of a newly developed instrument measuring attitudes of nurses related to the care and safe handling of patients who are obese. Methods: Phases of instrument development included (a) item generation, (b) content validity assessment, (c) reliability assessment, (d) cognitive interviewing, and (e) construct validity assessment through factor analysis. Results: The final data from the exploratory factor analysis produced a 26-item multidimensional instrument that contains 9 subscales. Conclusions: Based on the factor analysis, a 26-item instrument can be used to examine nurses’ attitudes regarding patients who are morbidly obese and related safe handling practices.