Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the psychological medicine inventory--nurses version

Responding to a patient's psychological needs is central to nursing practice. The Psychological Medicine Inventory (PMI) assesses the level of interest, confidence, and perceived clinical abilities in addressing psychological aspects of patient care. The inventory was developed for use among physicians. This study examines the psychometric properties and factor structure of a modified version of the PMI among nurses (Psychological Medicine Inventory--Nurses PMI-N]). One hundred and nine hospital nurses completed the PMI-N and a measure of emotional responsiveness. Consistent with the original inventory, factor analysis yielded a two-factor solution-psychological ability and psychological sensitivity. The PMI-N demonstrated a high percentage of explained variance (64.6%) and satisfactory Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficients for the total inventory (.83) and for the two factors (.81 and .70, respectively). Furthermore, the item-to-total correlations were high (.48-.69), as were the inter-item correlations (.41-.65). Given these results, the PMI-N can be used with confidence among nurses. Further examination of the scale with larger and more representative samples is warranted.