Psychometric Evaluation of Persian Version of Nurses' Intention to Care Scale (P-NICS) for Patients with COVID-19

Background: Given the high incidence of coronavirus and the shortage of nurses in Iranian hospitals, nurses' intention to care for patients with COVID-19 is important. The aim of this study is to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Persian version of the nurses' intention to care scale (NICS) by Iranian nurses who care for patients with COVID-19 in hospitals.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on nurses (n= 400) at public and private Mazandaran hospitals. An online questionnaire was used that consisted of two parts: demographic variables and NICS. The scale was translated into Persian first and then validated using both construct and content validity.

Results: The findings from an exploratory factor analysis yielded six factors that explained 53.12% of the total variance of the NICS. The confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the model had a good fit and the inter-item correlation values of the factors indicated good internal consistency.

Conclusion: The Persian version of NICS in Iranian nurses had six factors. The results of our study add insight for nurse administrators and educators to further develop strategies to increase nurses' intention by improving positive attitudes and reducing their negative beliefs.