Validation of the Practice Environment Scale among nursing technicians and aides

Objective: Evaluate the reliability and validity of the Brazilian version of the Practice Environment Scale among nursing technicians and aides. Methods: This is a meth odological cross-sectional study with 91 randomly selected nursing professionals. The following variables were evaluated: nursing practice environment (using the Brazilian version of the Practice Environment Scale), emotional exhaustion (using the Maslach Burnout Inventory subscale), job satisfaction, and safety climate (using two subscales of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire - Short Form), perception of care quality, and intention to leave employment. To assess the reliability and validity of subscales of the Practice Environment Scale, Cronbach's alpha coefficient and Spearman's correlation coefficient were calculated, respectively, between the subscales of the Practice Environment Scale and the other study variables. Results: Cronbach's alpha coefficient ranged from 0.70 to 0.88 among the subscales of the Practice Environment Scale, and all subscales presented a significant correlation with the variables of emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, safety climate, perception of care quality, and intention to leave employment. Conclusion: The instrument showed evidence of satisfactory reliability and validity in the assessment of the nursing practice environment. A validated instrument that measures the practice environment of a larger number of nursing professionals can help administrators implement and evaluate strategies to improve the results of patients, nursing professionals, and institutions.