The development of a measure of public health nurses' practice responses to women who are abused.

The Public Health Nurses' Responses to Women Who Are Abused (PHNR) scale was designed to measure the degree of nurses' helpfulness to women who are abused by their partners. The measure utilizes two vignettes of nursing practice situations. A factor analysis of the original 30-item scale found that 20 items loaded on one factor (n = 125). This revised 20-item PHNR demonstrated a strong internal consistency (alpha = .85). The two scenarios were compared over a 2-week time period, resulting in a moderately strong correlation of r = .74. High scores on the PHNR were associated with increased age, personal experience, greater number of years of nursing experience, and attendance at workshops on wife abuse. While the initial psychometric properties of the scale are supportive, further investigation is warranted. With this caution, the PHNR may prove useful in identifying nurses' skill and knowledge levels in helping abused women, and for pre/posttest evaluations of educational programs for nurses regarding wife assault.