Validation of a Spanish version of the practice environment scale of the nursing work index in the Colombian context.

The literature supports that organizations that create working conditions with positive practice environments improve nurses' job satisfaction and reduce turnover in hospital settings (Havens & Johnston, 2004; International Council of Nurses [ICN], 2007). Positive practice environments promote quality nursing care and better patient outcomes. However, in South America, there are no instruments to measure the nursing practice environment in a hospital setting. The purpose of this research was to examine the validity and reliability of a Spanish translation of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI; Lake, 2002) in the Colombian clinical context. An instrument validation study using expert panel review, content validity indexing techniques, and a factor analysis of survey responses from 144 nurses was used. The scale-level content validity evaluation achieved high levels of acceptability, with values above 0.90. Construct validity results suggest that the instrument consists of 5 factors as prescribed by original instrument. The overall internal consistency value was a Cronbach's alpha level of 0.89. This is the first instrument to measure the work environment of nursing practice in South America, now validated in the Colombian context.