Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Patient Care Associates' Work Environment Scale

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to examine the psychometric properties of the Patient Care Associates' Work Environment Scale (PCA-WES). BACKGROUND: Few studies exist examining patient care associates (PCAs) working in acute care settings, and no instruments are available to examine the impact of the work environment on their practice. METHODS: A psychometric evaluation using a nonprobability purposive sample of 390 PCAs was undertaken. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha internal consistency reliability of the total score was .95. Principal components analysis with varimax rotation and Kaiser normalization identified 5 components that accounted for 57.2% of variance and confirmed the original theoretical structure. The resulting 35-item scale had subscale Cronbach's alpha reliability estimates that ranged from .84 to .93. CONCLUSIONS: The multidimensional PCA-WES is a psychometrically sound measure of 5 components of the PCA practice environment in the acute care setting and is sufficiently reliable and valid for use as independent subscales in healthcare research.