The Italian Nurses' Perceptions of Nursing Diagnoses according to demographic characteristics: An investigatory psychometric study

Background: The nursing process was recognized as a fundamental instrument in nursing care activities. To investigate the Nurses' Perceptions of Nursing Diagnoses (NDPS-IT) psychometric properties into Italian and also assessed differences in the NDPS-IT items among Italian nurses according to their socio-demographic characteristics. Methods: An observational study was carried out. The Italian Nursing Diagnoses Perception Scale (NDPS-IT) was translated and administered among Italian nurses. Results: A total of 394 Italian nurses were enrolled. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value of sampling adequacy was 0.891 for the total data collection, 0.888 for the first data collection, and 0.891 for the second data collection, indicating that the data were suitable for factor analysis. The Bartlett's test of sphericity also provided strong evidence for the factor structure. The NDPS-IT showed a clear structure based on the factorability of the correlation matrix. Factor analysis with Varimax rotation revealed five sub-dimensions with factor loadings ≥0.40 on each factor. These dimensions were named as follows: ''Benefits of the nursing diagnosis'', ''Use and purpose of the nursing diagnosis'', ''Nursing diagnosis utility'', ''Time requested to formulate a nursing diagnosis'', ''Aim of the nursing diagnosis''. Considering NDPS scores according to “Ease of use” dimension according to ward employment, a significant difference was assessed (p = 0.027), as nurses employed in health services recorded higher scores in this dimension. Conclusions: Nursing diagnosis could be enhanced in nursing activity, and allocating more time for this purpose would facilitate better performance in the nursing care planning phase.