Development and validation of a scale to measure the perception of workplace gender discrimination for women in nursing

Workplace gender discrimination as perceived by women in nursing, is currently under researched. The aim of this article is to outline the development and validation of a scale designed to measure the perception of workplace gender discrimination for women nurses. The instrument was developed following a three-stage process, consistent with recommendations for scale development. Twenty-nine items were derived from two comprehensive literature reviews and interviews with 10 women nurses. Exploratory factor analysis (principal axis factoring) with varimax rotation was conducted for identifying the dimensions underlying the data set. All 29 items loaded onto a factor. Each factor included at least four items and all item loadings were well above the acceptable minimum value (> 0.40). The four factors collectively account for 71.27% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha of the 29 items (0.964) showed good internal consistency. It is our hope that this research tool will not only be used within nursing, but also with some modification, in other women dominated professions.