Operationalizing Maslow's theory: development and testing of the basic need satisfaction inventory.

Although Maslow's theory is frequently cited in the nursing literature and is commonly used as an underlying framework for clinical practice, it has been subjected to limited empirical scrutiny. This may be due, in part, to a scarcity of survey measures to operationalize the construct of need satisfaction. The Basic Need Satisfaction Inventory (BNSI) was developed for this purpose. The instrument, created from Andrews and Withey's indicators of life concerns and their "delighted-terrible" scale, was first examined through secondary data analysis, pilot tested (N = 21), and then administered to samples of men and women with chronic pulmonary disease (N = 109) and healthy older adults (N = 100). Emerging evidence of internal consistency reliability and construct validity suggests that the BNSI may be a useful instrument to measure need satisfaction and to test the adequacy of Maslow's theory for nursing science and practice.