How Factor Analysis Results May Change Due to Country Context

Purpose: To present how factor analysis results of a Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) translation changed due to country context. Design: Validity and reliability analysis of a cross-culturally adapted, Polish translation of the PES-NWI came from a cross-sectional, national survey that included 2,605 registered nurses working in surgical (50.4%) and medical (49.6%) units of 30 Polish hospitals. Methods: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using the principal component analysis (PCA) method with varimax rotation and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine factor structure of the instrument in the Polish context. Zero-order and partial Pearson correlation coefficients were used to establish the range of variance shared by the dimensions of the Polish version. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient determined internal consistency reliability. The internal consistency of the scale was also tested based on Kline's criterion. Findings: The PCA conducted in the sample of Polish nurses extracted six factors, explaining together 56% of the total variance. The varimax rotation, however, restricted results to five factors, explaining 52.7% of the total variance and generating a factor structure closer to that based on previous studies. The CFA model, based on a PCA solution with five nonorthogonal factors, fitted data better than the theoretically driven model. Conclusions: Dimensions of the PES-NWI nurses’ work environments remain conceptually consistent in Poland, but load differently. Health system or nursing profession factors related to the country context are potential explanations for these differences. Clinical Relevance: When using a translation of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index-Revised to examine the influences of work environment quality on nursing and patient outcomes, it is important to consider contextual differences when using results to inform policy.