A development of Thai moral integrity scale for professional nurses

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop the Thai Moral Integrity Scale (TMIS), and to test its psychometric properties. The construct definition and content domains of the TMIS were developed through the intensive literature reviews and test the content validity by experts. This used to guide the conceptual framework in this instrument. The content validity was examined using the panel of five experts. The content validity index (S-CVI) was 1.00. The Moral Integrity Scale was consists 27 items with five Likert scale. The result of psychometric properties from 502 professional nurses by using exploratory factor analysis indicated that there were four dimensions that can explain the moral integrity in professional nurses that consists; 1) adhere to Code of Professional Conduct, 2) express action according to Code of Professional Conduct, 3) continue to act on Code of Professional Conduct and 4) have courage to act on Code of Professional Conduct, even have difficult condition. There are 55.98% of the total variance. The construct validity was tested by using confirmatory factor analysis. The results indicated that the measurement model had good fit the data with (χ2 = 266.32, df = 242, p = 0.136), χ2/df = 1.10, GFI = 0.96, AGFI = 0.95, CFI = 0.96, and RMSEA = 0.01). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the total scale was 0.92. The Thai Moral Integrity Scale demonstrated the good internal consistency reliability with evidence to support the content and construct validity. This instrument should be useful for develop the instrument for assess moral integrity for Thai professional nurses in the future.