Development of an international tool to measure nurse job satisfaction by testing the Healthcare Environment Survey beyond Jamaica and the United States to Scotland: A cross sectional study utilizing exploratory factor analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACTThere is no international standard or benchmark for measuring nurse job satisfaction. The Healthcare Environment Survey (HES) is a psychometrically tested tool for measuring nurse job satisfaction. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used to test the HES in the United States and Jamaica where it explained 74 and 79% of the variance of nurse job satisfaction, respectively. Further research is needed to determine if the survey can perform reliably in other settings. The survey was issued to a convenience sample of 634 nursing staff at a national hospital in Clydebank, Scotland in August and September of 2014 and in March of 2015. Exploratory factor analysis was the methodology used. Principal axis factoring was used for extraction, and direct oblimin was used for rotation. Eigenvalues greater than 1.0 were used. Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin was used to assess model fit. Only surveys without missing data were used, and 393 nursing staff (62%) responded to every item in the survey. All items loaded in their subscale. Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin was 0.953, indicating good model fit. The 11 factors explained 79% of the variance of job satisfaction. The HES performed as reliably in Scotland as it did in other settings, denoting the tool’s consistency.