Abstract

Background: The Core-competency Institutional Nurse Aide scale (CINA) is a job competency measure for institutional nurse aides that includes eight domains: physical care, daily care, emergency management, psychological support, interpersonal communication, activity facilitation, teamwork cooperation, and occupational ethics. This study aimed to examine the construct validity (i.e., 8-factor structure of the CINA, unidimensionality of each domain, and convergent validity) and internal consistency of the CINA among institutional nurse aides.

Methods: Totally, 238 institutional nurse aides completed the CINA. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to examine the 8-factor structure of the CINA and unidimensionality of each domain. Pearson's r and Cronbach's alpha (α) were performed to examine convergent validity and internal consistency, respectively.

Results: The CFA goodness-of-fit indices of the 8-factor structure of unidimensionality were comparative fit index = 0.97-1.00, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.95-1.00, standardized root mean square residual = 0.037-0.100, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.026-0.170. Moderate to strong correlations were observed among the eight domains (r = 0.33-0.78). Cronbach's α for the eight domains ranged from 0.89 to 0.94.

Conclusion: The CINA has shown sufficient construct validity and internal consistency for use among institutional nursing aides. Each domain assesses a specific dimension of job competency pertinent to institutional nursing aides. This multidimensional job competency measure has potential applications in workforce development, performance evaluation, and quality improvement of institutional nurse aides.