Development and validation of an instrument of occupational low back pain prevention behaviours of nurse

Abstract

To develop and test the psychometric properties of occupational low back pain prevention behaviours questionnaire in nursing personnel. A qualitative and quantitative research design to develop and validate an instrument. A qualitative study was conducted from May - October 2017 with 20 participants to generate an item pool. Then, content and face validity was carried out. Next, the questionnaire was distributed among a sample of nurses. In all, 150 nurses participated (mean age 34.1; SD 7.66years) in the study. Exploratory factor analysis used to determine the factor structure of the questionnaire. Item-scale correlation matrix was provided to examine the construct validity. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was estimated to assess reliability and intraclass correlation coefficient was calculated to examine stability. Six factors with 30 items emerged from the exploratory factor analysis that jointly accounted for 67.9% of the variance observed. Item-scale correlation matrix showed satisfactory results lending support to construct validity of the questionnaire. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the whole scale showed excellent internal consistency (0.92), although this was not true for the knowledge subscale. The intraclass correlation coefficient with a 2-week interval also indicated that the questionnaire had satisfactory stability (0.97). This study provides initial support for reliability and validity of the Occupational Low Back Pain Prevention Behaviour Questionnaire. This study offers an instrument to assess low back pain preventive behaviours among nurses. The instrument is useful for nursing personnel and could be used in hospitals and healthcare settings to implement appropriate interventions.