Elsevier

Nursing Outlook

Volume 63, Issue 6, November–December 2015, Pages 632-638
Nursing Outlook

Article
Education
Refinement and validation of the Work Readiness Scale for graduate nurses

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2015.06.001Get rights and content

Abstract

The transition from student to registered nurse is often stressful and has been attributed to a lack of work readiness. Understanding what comprises work readiness for newly registered nurses, or graduate nurses as they are referred to in Australia, may reduce attrition and improve transition into the workplace. The 64-item Work Readiness Scale (WRS), developed with a generic population of graduates, has yet to be validated against specific disciplines to confirm applicability as a measure of work readiness. This study adapted the original WRS for use with a graduate nurse population (WRS-GN). The aim was to refine and validate the WRS-GN and determine whether the original four factor construct was supported. The WRS-GN was completed by 450 graduate nurses. Exploratory factor analyses supported the original four-factor solution (social intelligence, personal work characteristics, organizational acumen, and work competence). The final WRS-GN consisted of 46 items, showed excellent reliability, and explained 73.55% of the variance.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were 450 graduate nurses recruited over a 3-year period (2012–2014) from four health organizations located in regional and metropolitan Victoria, Australia. Participants were recruited during graduate nurse study days held at the commencement of the graduate nurse year-long program at each participating organization. The study involved 426 women and 22 men, which is below the average 10% of male nurses in Australia (Health Workforce Australia, 2013). The mean age of the

Results

A series of exploratory factor analyses with maximum likelihood estimation and oblique rotation were conducted to establish a stable factor structure of the revised WRS-GN. The participant sample of 450 was in excess of the minimum five cases per variable ratio (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1995). As recommended by Coakes (2013), the factorability of each data set was established by examining the correlation matrix, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy, and the Bartlett test

Discussion

The purpose of the current study was to refine and validate the revised WRS-GN using a cross section of graduate nurses. The iterative process of exploratory factor and item analyses indicated that the optimal solution was a four-factor model. The model confirmed the theoretical constructs from previous literature (Caballero et al., 2011, Walker et al., 2013) and the validity of the revised WRS-GN. Furthermore, the current study reduced the number of items in the revised WRS-GN from 60 to 46,

Conclusion

To date, there has been limited empirical research on the construct of work readiness. A possible reason for this is that work readiness, as a construct, is still within the early stages of development. However, the results of the current study provide initial support for the characteristics and attributes previously identified by researchers as indicative of work readiness for graduate nurses. This study provides a foundation on which future research can build and further refine the construct

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      Citation Excerpt :

      In this review, personal attributes relate to individual qualities and traits that may or may not be acquired by formal education. The majority of the studies included in this review (14 papers) highlighted that emotional intelligence, positive attitude, and enthusiasm are expected qualities for graduate nurses entering the workforce (Berkow et al., 2008; Bromley, 2015; Brown and Crookes, 2016; Ehrenberg et al., 2016; Harrison et al., 2019; Leufer and Cleary-Holdforth, 2020; Lin et al., 2016; Missen et al., 2015; Patterson et al., 2008; Scott et al., 2010; Walker and Campbell, 2013; Walker et al., 2015). Other desirable personal attributes included willingness and ability to seek support (Walker and Campbell, 2013; Walker et al., 2015; Wangensteen et al., 2010; Wolff et al., 2010a; Wolff et al., 2010b) and apply critical thinking (Berkow et al., 2008; Bromley, 2015; Brown and Crookes, 2016; Harrison et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2019; Lin et al., 2016; Missen et al., 2015; Patterson et al., 2008; Scott et al., 2010; Walker et al., 2015; Wangensteen et al., 2010; Wolff et al., 2010a; Wolff et al., 2010b) as well as a holistic vision (Berkow et al., 2008; Bromley, 2015; Patterson et al., 2008; Wolff et al., 2010a), inquisitiveness (Bromley, 2015; Brown and Crookes, 2016; Ehrenberg et al., 2016; Lin et al., 2016; Missen et al., 2015; Patterson et al., 2008; Rochester et al., 2005; Walker and Campbell, 2013; Wangensteen et al., 2010; Wolff et al., 2010a), reflectivity and self-awareness (Berkow et al., 2008; Bromley, 2015; Brown and Crookes, 2016; Lin et al., 2016; Patterson et al., 2008; Rochester et al., 2005; Scott et al., 2010; Walker et al., 2015; Wolff et al., 2010a).

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