The development and psychometric validation of a Chinese empathy motivation scale

Aims and objectives To develop and validate an instrument to measure nurses’ empathy motivation in China (See Supporting Information Appendix S1). Background Nurses are increasingly expected to empathise with patients in clinical settings. However, research investigating nurses’ empathy motivation in China is lacking, and no specific instrument exists worldwide. Design Two‐stage cross‐sectional study, which follows the STROBE guidelines. Instrument development and psychometric evaluation were used (See Supporting Information Appendix S1). Methods A literature review and qualitative interviews with nurses were conducted to generate the initial items. Convenience samples of 340 (for item analysis) and 640 (for psychometric evaluation) clinical nurses working at four tertiary hospitals in Anhui Province were recruited. The scale was validated by content validity, surface validity and item analysis. A total of 640 participants were randomly divided into two equal groups. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used with varimax rotation, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and internal consistency reliability to analyse the psychometric properties of the scale (See Supporting Information Appendix S1). Results From the initial 90‐item pool, 27 items were retained by the item analysis. The EFA (N = 290) showed the following six factors on the scale explained 71.266% of the overall variance: amotivation, external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, integrative regulation and intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, when limited to three factors, that is autonomy motivation, controlled motivation and amotivation, 56.578% of the variance was explained. The findings showed high internal consistency. The six‐factor solution and three‐factor solution of the scale, including 27 items, were both confirmed by the CFA, for example χ2/df = 1.744, 2.261; RMSEA = 0.051, 0.066; GFI = 0.882, 0.847; TLI = 0.942, 0.902; and RMR = 0.039, 0.049, respectively. Conclusions The nurses’ empathy motivation scale presents good psychometric properties and can be used to explore nurses’ empathy motivation in China (See Supporting Information Appendix S1). Relevance to clinical practice This study offers insight into nurses’ complicated reasons for exhibiting empathy.