The Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Individualized Developmentally Supportive Care Scale for Neonatal Nurses

Introduction: Individualized developmentally supportive care (IDSC) is a critical nursing approach essential to providing effective care for pre-term newborns. This study aims to develop the IDSC scale for neonatal nurses and to evaluate its psychometric properties.
Methods: This study was conducted in a methodological, comparative, and correlational design with the neonatal nurses employed in the neonatal intensive care units. The content validity of the scale was evaluated by consulting with 11 specialists in pediatric nursing. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (numbers and percentages), t-tests, correlation analysis, criterion-related validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient.
Results: The study included 558 neonatal nurses. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was 0.96 for the entire scale, 0.91 for the knowledge subdimension, and 0.96 for the attitude subdimension. According to the explanatory factor analysis, the scale explained 72.92% of the total variance, and the factor loads of the items were between 0.58 and 0.91. The confirmatory factor analysis concluded that the scale was acceptable with the root mean square error of approximation=0.078, goodness of fit index (GFI)=0.844, adjusted GFI=0.806, comparative fit index=0.918, and χ2/df=2.754 values (p<0.001).
Discussion and Conclusion: The “Individualized Developmentally Supportive Care Scale” comprising two subdimensions and 24 items, was found to be a valid and reliable measurement tool.

Keywords: Individualized developmentally supportive care; Neonatal nurse; Newborn; Scale