Validation and Measurement of Psychometric Properties of the “Nursing Work Environment Questionnaire” (NWE-q) in Italian Nurses

Figures & data

Table 1 The Nursing Work Environment Questionnaire (NWE-q)

	For Each Situation Below, Please Indicate a Value Ranging from 1 (Negative Value) to 7 (Maximum Positive Value).	Value
Dimension 1: Nursing Arrangement Rules
System level	Item no.1: I work hard for the good image of the company where I work
	Item no.2: I work systematically
	Item no.3: I try to make the best use of all the instrumental resources available, without waste
Organizational level	Item no.4: Each colleague knows own duties
	Item no.5: I collaborate with all the professionals present in my work environment
	Item no.6: I try to strictly comply with the safety rules of my work environment
Individual level	Item no.7: I try to think my nursing as best I can
	Item no.8: I apply company procedures in order to improve assistance
	Item no.9: I am committed to continuous professional updating
Dimension 2: Nursing Skill Activities
System level	Item no.10: I foster a proactive problem-solving environment
	Item no.11: I try to always keep my working environment in order
	Item no.12: I work proactively with my superiors
Organizational level	Item no.13: I am committed to implementing a positive atmosphere in my work group
	Item no.14: I always update my knowledge
	Item no.15: I feel motivated in my work and try to motivate others
Individual level	Item no.16: I am committed to personal professional development
	Item no.17: I try to be an active part in my work group
	Item no.18: I contribute to nursing research
Dimension 3: Nursing Insight
System level	Item no.19: I discuss in a proactive way the difficulties of my environment
	Item no.20: I appropriately identify the priorities of my work
	Item no.21: I strongly believe in continuous updating
Organizational level	Item no.22: I am always looking for NWE challenges for my work
	Item no.23: I compare myself with other colleagues on the negative aspects of my work
	Item no.24: I actively participate in team meetings
Individual level	Item no.25: I plan my work properly
	Item no.26: I always choose the most challenging tasks in my job
	Item no.27: I can better manage my working time

Table 2 Paired Samples Statistics

Paired Items	Frequencies (n)	Correlation	p-value
Item no.1 T0 and T1	10	0.650	0.042*
Item no.2 T0 and T1	10	0.674	0.033*
Item no.3 T0 and T1	10	0.764	0.010*
Item no.4 T0 and T1	10	0.718	0.019*
Item no.5 T0 and T1	10	0.899	>0.001*
Item no.6 T0 and T1	10	0.738	0.015*
Item no.7 T0 and T1	10	0.668	0.035*
Item no.8 T0 and T1	10	0.646	0.044*
Item no.9 T0 and T1	10	0.932	0.>0.001*
Item no.10 T0 and T1	10	0.843	0.002*
Item no.11 T0 and T1	10	0.813	0.004*
Item no.12 T0 and T1	10	0.674	0.033*
Item no.13 T0 and T1	10	0.813	0.004*
Item no.14 T0 and T1	10	0.715	0.020*
Item no.15 T0 and T1	10	0.738	0.015*
Item no.16 T0 and T1	10	0.899	>0.001*
Item no.17 T0 and T1	10	0.688	0.028*
Item no.18 T0 and T1	10	0.674	0.033*
Item no.19 T0 and T1	10	0.963	>0.001*
Item no.20 T0 and T1	10	0.801	0.005*
Item no.21 T0 and T1	10	0.924	>0.001*
Item no.22 T0 and T1	10	0.896	>0.001*
Item no.23 T0 and T1	10	0.678	0.031*
Item no.24 T0 and T1	10	0.775	0.008*
Item no.25 T0 and T1	10	0.643	0.045*
Item no.26 T0 and T1	10	0.859	0.001*
Item no.27 T0 and T1	10	0.726	0.018*

Notes: *Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.

Table 3 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Participants (n=376)

Variable	Frequency	Percentage*
Gender
Female	228	60.60
Male	148	39.40
Years of work experience
>5 years	106	28.20
<6 years	270	71.80
Shift
Morning and Afternoon	203	54.00
Night	173	46.00
Nursing educational level
Low (until 3 years)	211	56.10
High (over 3 years)	165	43.90

Note: *Missing rate was 0.

Table 4 KMO and Bartlett’s Test

Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy		0.964
Bartlett test of sphericity	Approx. chi-square	7911.88
	Df	351
	p	0.000

Table 5 Total Variance Explained Output

Total Variance Explained
Items	Initial Eigenvalue			Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings
	Total	% of Variance	% Cumulative	Total	% of Variance	% Cumulative
Item no.1	14.829	54.923	54.923	14.829	54.923	54.923
Item no.2	1.419	5.256	60.179	1.419	5.256	60.179
Item no.3	1.103	4.085	64.265	1.103	4.085	64.265
Item no.4	0.870	3.222	67.487
Item no.5	0.813	3.012	70.498
Item no.6	0.720	2.668	73.166
Item no.7	0.656	2.430	75.596
Item no.8	0.617	2.284	77.880
Item no.9	0.560	2.075	7.955
Item no.10	0.503	1.862	81.816
Item no.11	0.472	1.747	83.563
Item no.12	0.426	1.579	85.143
Item no.13	0.412	1.527	86.670
Item no.14	0.388	1.439	88.109
Item no.15	0.362	1.340	89.449
Item no.16	0.323	1.195	90.644
Item no.17	0.299	1.108	91.752
Item no.18	0.288	1.067	92.819
Item no.19	0.269	0.998	93.817
Item no.20	0.256	0.949	94.766
Item no.21	0.238	0.880	95.646
Item no.22	0.224	0.830	96.476
Item no.23	0.217	0.803	97.279
Item no.24	0.208	0.772	98.051
Item no.25	0.190	0.704	98.755
Item no.26	0.173	0.642	99.397
Item no.27	0.163	0.603	100.000

Note: Extraction method: Principal component analysis.

Table 6 Factors Loading of the NWE-q Items

Model Matrix^a
	Component
	First Component: Individual	Second Component: Organization	Third Component: Systemic
Item no.7	0.986	−0.215	0.031
Item no.6	0.889	−0.108	−0.102
Item no.5	0.880	−0.074	−0.003
Item no.8	0.848	−0.006	0.093
Item no.23	0.802	−0.108	0.167
Item no.2	0.780	−0.017	−0.096
Item no.13	0.770	0.072	−0.077
Item no.11	0.762	−0.015	0.129
Item no.3	0.760	0.038	0.162
Item no.20	0.760	0.057	0.099
Item no.25	0.691	0.164	−0.164
Item no.9	0.683	0.194	0.003
Item no.14	0.681	0.124	−0.078
Item no.10	0.675	0.208	0.041
Item no.17	0.629	0.260	−0.125
Item no.27	0.606	0.212	−0.176
Item no.19	0.597	0.306	−0.063
Item no.12	0.449	0.396	−0.276
Item no.18	−0.207	0.925	0.032
Item no.24	0.168	0.653	−0.070
Item no.15	0.170	0.649	0.032
Item no.26	0.306	0.476	0.287
Item no.1	0.386	0.471	−0.209
Item no.16	0.306	0.461	−0.001
Item no.22	0.415	0.348	0.541
Item no.4	0.435	0.216	−0.473
Item no.21	0.400	0.393	0.432
Eigenvalues	14.829	1.419	1.103
Explained variance	54.923	5.256	4.085

Notes: Extraction method: principal components analysis. Rotation method: Oblimin with Kaiser normalization. ^aThe rotation reached the convergence criteria in 10 iterations. All the bold values highlighted suggested the potential factor included for each sub dimension.

Table 7 The Internal Consistency, Reliability and Interclass Correlation Coefficients of the NWE-q

						Pearson Correlation
Dimension	No. Items	µ±s.d.	C.I. 95% Min.-Max	α-Cronbach	ICC	Individual	Organizational	System	NWE-q total
						r	r	r	r
						p	p	p	p
Individual dimension	18	93.31±19.01	32.00–119.00	0.964	0.964	1.00	0.780 >0.001*	0.795 >0.001*	0.979 >0.001*
Organizational dimension	6	30.29±7.24	10.00–42.00	0.843	0.833	0.780 0>0.001*	1.00	0.764 >0.001*	0.883 >0.001*
System dimension	3	15.74±3.54	5.00–21.00	0.645	0.633	00.795 >0.001*	0.764 >0.001*	1.00	0.862 >0.001*
NWE-q total	27	139.33±28.06	50.00–181.00	0.967	0.964	0.979 >0.001*	0.883 >0.001*	0.862 >0.001*	1.00

Note: *Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; ICC, intraclass correlation coefficient; Min, minimum; Max, maximum; r, Pearson’s correlation.

Table 8 Correlations Between the NWE-q and the Individual Nursing Performance Questionnaire

Individual Nursing Questionnaire	NWE-q
	Individual Dimension	Organizational Dimension	System Dimension	NWE-q Total
Task Performance (items no.1–5)
Pearson correlation coefficient (r)	0.751	0.657	0.634	0.758
p-value	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*
Contextual Performance (items no. 6–13)
Pearson correlation coefficient (r)	0.766	0.661	0.679	0.775
p-value	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*
Counterproductive Behaviors (Items no. 14–18)
Pearson correlation coefficient (r)	−0.124	−0.282	−0.050	−0.163
p-value	0.016*	>0.001*	0.037*	0.002*

Note: *Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.

Table 9 Correlations Between the NWE-q and the Organizational Nursing Performance Questionnaire

Organizational Nursing Questionnaire	NWE-q
	Individual Dimension	Organizational Dimension	System Dimension	NWE-q total
Contextual (items no.11)				0.
Pearson correlation coefficient (r)	0.797	0.637	0.720	796
p-value	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*
Professional Skill (items no. 4)
Pearson correlation coefficient (r)	0.806	0.597	0.687	0.787
p-value	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*
Clinical Skill (Items no. 6)
Pearson correlation coefficient (r)	0.874	0.705	0.775	0.872
p-value	0.016*	>0.001*	0.037*	0.002*
Interpersonal Communication (Items no. 3)
Pearson correlation coefficient (r)	0.728	0.661	0.609	0.741
p-value	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*
Problem Solving (Items no. 3)
Pearson correlation coefficient (r)	0.838	0.677	0.702	0.831
p-value	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*
Professional Ethic (Item no. 3)
Pearson correlation coefficient (r)	0.715	0.595	0.648	0.720
p-value	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*
Teamwork (Item no. 4)
Pearson correlation coefficient (r)	0.868	0.739	0.743	0.873
p-value	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*
Leadership (Item no. 4)
Pearson correlation coefficient (r)	0.698	0.673	0.647	0.728
p-value	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*	>0.001*

Note: *Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.

Table 10 Differences in the NWE-q Sub Dimensions According to Gender, Work Experience, Shift and Nursing Educational Level

Dimension	NWE-q
Socio-Demographic Characteristics	Individual Dimension			Organizational Dimension			System Dimension			NWE-q Total
	µ±s.d.	C.I. 95% Min–Max	F p	µ±s.d.	C.I. 95% Min–Max	F p	µ±s.d.	C.I. 95% Min–Max	F p	µ±s.d.	C.I. 95% Min–-Max	F p
Gender
Female	96.89±16.15	94.78–98.99	21.654	31.06±6.81	31.17–31.95	6.727	16.06±3.30	15.63–16.50	5.054	144.02±24.39	140.83–147.20	16.811
Male	87.79±21.65	84.28–91.31	>0.001*	29.09±7.72	27.84–30.35	0.010*	15.23±3.84	14.60–15.85	0.025*	132.12±31.68	126.97–137.27	>0.001*
Total	93.31±19.01	91.38–95.24		30.29±7.24	29.55–31.02		15.74±3.54	15.38–16.09		139.33±28.06	136.49–142.18
Work experience
>5 years	95.73±17.64	92.32–99.12	2.390	30.48±7.07	29.12–31.84	0.106	15.99±3.51	15.31–16.67	0.758	142.19±26.02	137.18–147.21	1.539
<6 years	92.36±19.48	90.02–94.70	0.123	30.21±7.31	29.33–31.08	0.745	15.63±3.55	15.21–16.06	0.385	138.21±28.79	134.76–141.66	0.216
Total	93.31±19.01	91.38–95.23		30.29±7.24	29.55–31.02		15.73±3.54	15.38–16.09		139.33±28.06	136.18–142.18
Shift
Morning/Afternoon	95.68±17.57	93.17–98.04	6.520	31.15±6.59	30.23–32.06	6.325	16.18±3.33	15.72–16.68	7.256	142.94±25.79	139.37–146.51	7.411
Morning/Afternoon/Night	90.62±20.30	87.57–93.67	0.011*	29.28±7.83	28.10–30.45	0.012*	15.21±3.72	14.65–15.76	0.007*	135.10±30.04	130.60–139.61	0.007*
Total	93.31±19.01	91.38–95.24		30.29±7.24	29.55–31.02		15.74±3.54	15.38–16.09		139.33±28.06	136.49–142.18
Nursing Educational level
Low (3 years)	94.39±17.22	92.06–96.73	1.560	30.34±7.07	29.38–31.30	0.027	15.86±3.31	15.41–16.31	0.562	140.59±25.65	137.11–144.07	0.965
High (over 3 years)	91.93±21.06	88.69–95.16	0.212	30.22±7.47	29.07–31.37	0.870	15.58±3.82	14.99–16.17	0.454	137.72±30.88	132.98–142.47	0.326
Total	93.31±19.01	91.38–95.24		30.28±7.24	29.55–31.02		15.74±3.54	15.38–16.09		139.33±28.06	136.49–142.18

Note: *Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.