In today’s healthcare environments, an increasing need for nurses to conduct patient outcome and cost studies has become a commonality; the purpose is to assess the reliability of health care programs.
The Caring Efficacy Scale (CES) was developed as a tool for conducting these investigations. The CES assesses how strongly one has developed a caring relationship with the client or patient. The implication of this survey instrument is that one has the ability, attitudes and cognitions needed to elicit a behavior in the direction of interest. The instrument was initially created based on Watson’s (1979, 1985, 1988, 1996) Theory of Transpersonal Caring, which emphasizes the unique combination of scientific knowledge and humanistic aspects of nursing; by facilitating the Theory of Transpersonal Caring, a nurse would establish an intimate, caring relationship with the client.
The Caring Efficacy Scale was also developed based on Bandura’s (1977, 1986) concept of efficacy, as described in his social learning theory. This framework is based on a triadic reciprocality where 3 factors influence behavior: environmental factors, biological factors, and cognitive factors. Bandura claims that “Perceived self-efficacy refers to beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to meet given situational demands.” Hurley (1990) describes self-efficacy as a sense of “I can do.” Both emphasize a sense of free-will.
Validity and Reliability
Reliability was tested on a random sample of 47 new nurses – proving that there was strong reliability and validity. There were two tests (Form A and From B) of reliability conducted on the long form of the caring efficacy scale – returning alpha values of .85 and .88.
The caring efficacy scale was also tested for content validity and was shown to have a high validity. This investigation was carried out by Coates (1997) where faculty members were asked to rate the 30 items in Form B based on Watson’s Theory.
References
Coates, C. J. (1997). The caring efficacy scale: Nurses’ self-reports of caring in practice settings. Advanced Practice Nursing Quarterly, 3(1), 53-59.
Lorig, K., Stewart, A., Ritter, P., Gonzales, V., Laurent, D., & Lynch, L. (1996). Outcome measures for health education and other health care interventions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Watson, J. (1979). Nursing: The philosophy and science of caring. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company.
Watson, J. (1985). Nursing: Human science and human care. Norwalk, CT: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Watson, J.(1988). New dimensions of human caring theory. Nursing Science Quarterly, 1, 175-181.
Watson, J. (1996). Watson’s theory of transpersonal caring. In P.H. Walker & B. Neuman (Eds.), Blueprint for use of nursing models: Education, research, practice, and administration (pp. 141-184). New York: National League for Nursing.
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