Scale of adverse events associated to nursing practices: a psychometric study in Portuguese hospital context.

OBJECTIVE: to contribute to the validation study of the Scale of Adverse Events associated with Nursing Practices in the hospital context.

METHOD: cross-sectional study, in public hospital units, in the central and northern regions of Portugal. The exploratory factor analysis of the Scale of Adverse Events associated to Nursing Practices was conducted with a sample of 165 nurses and the confirmatory factorial analysis was made with a sample of 685 nurses. Reliability, internal consistency and construct validity were estimated. The invariance of the model was evaluated in two subsamples to confirm the stability of the factorial solution.

RESULTS: the global sample consisted of 850 nurses aged between 22 and 59, mostly licensed professionals. The model had a good overall fit in the subscales (Nursing Practices: χ2/df = 2.88, CFI = 0.90, GFI = 0.86, RMSEA = 0.05, MECVI = 3.30; Adverse Events: χ2/df = 4.62, CFI = 0.93, GFI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.07, MECVI = 0.39). There was a stable factor structure, indicating strong invariance in the subscale Nursing Practices and structural invariance in the subscale Adverse Events.

CONCLUSION: the refined model of the Scale of Adverse Events associated with Nursing Practices revealed good fit and stability of the factorial solution. The instrument was adjusted to evaluate the perception of nurses about adverse events associated with health care, precisely nursing care, in the hospital setting.