The public's perception of the nursing profession: Validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the nursing image scale in Taiwan

The public's perception of the nursing image deeply influences nurses' work and professional development. However, the Taiwanese public's perception of nursing remains unclear. This study aimed to determine the validity and reliability of a Chinese version of the Nursing Image Scale (NIS) in Taiwan. This was a psychometric study using a cross-sectional survey. Participants were recruited via the snowball sampling method through the online community software LINE from August 1 to 13, 2019. After data collection, the construction and validation of the NIS to measure public opinion were assessed, including content validity, corrected item-total correlation, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and reliability. A total of 1331 valid responses were included in the analysis. After EFA analysis, the 20 scale items were divided across the four domains of prudence and care, innovation and cooperation, efficiency and division, and professionalism and respect. The NIS (Chinese version) was valid and reliable for measuring public opinion and may be used to examine changes in public perceptions of nursing.