Development of a measure of willingness to provide nursing care to AIDS patients.

The Nursing Willingness Questionnaire (NWQ) was developed to measure nurses' willingness to perform specific direct care activities for an adult male patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Measures of internal consistency and one-week test-retest stability indicated excellent reliability. NWQ scale scores correlated significantly with a measure of fear of contracting AIDS via interpersonal and medical contacts but not with fear of contagion through risky sexual behavior. In principle components analysis, all items loaded on one factor. These psychometric studies suggest the NWQ is a reliable and valid instrument for evaluating a construct of current concern to nursing administrators and educators.