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Constructing the Nurse Match Instrument to Measure Professional Identity and Values in Nursing

Abstract

Roger Ellis, Lauren Griffiths and Elaine Hogard

This article describes the development of an instrument to measure and explore the identities of nurses, nursing students and applicants to Nursing programmes. In particular the instrument focuses on the values held by respondents regarding Nursing. The current concern that standards in nursing may be falling and the need for methods to identify suitable candidates are described briefly. The instrument has been developed using the wellestablished ISA/Ipseus theory and psychometric technology to offer an in depth measure of professional identity and values in Nursing. The instrument is called Nurse Match since it allows for comparison and match between the profiles of applicants to Nursing programmes and experienced and well regarded nurses. The article locates the instrument in theoretical and empirical approaches to identity and concentrates on three key theorists, Erikson; Kelly and Festinger. The use of Weinreich’s Identity Structure Analysis and its associated measuring methodology Ipseus are justified as the approach adopted for the development of Nurse Match. The key characteristics of ISA are described together with those of Ipseus, the flexible open-ended measuring technology for the development, administration, response recording, analysis and reporting functions of a dedicated instrument. Ipseus instruments are made up of constructs which are bi polar dimensions of thought and entities which are key elements in the social domain and include aspects of self as well as key others. Completion of the instrument requires all the constructs to be applied to the entities. Responses are recorded and analysed by the Ipseus software which produces a report including indications of the way the values inherent in the constructs are construed and used by the respondent. The instrument thus gives an in depth analysis of, in this case, the respondents position regarding key nursing values. The article describes the steps followed to determine the constructs in the Nurse Match instrument and these included a literature review; ethnographic data gathering; and the use of expert judgements. Initial results from the use of the first version of the instrument demonstrate its power to identify the value orientations of individuals and groups. In particular the instrument reveals which constructs/values are of most importance to a respondent and their preferred pole of each construct. The article concludes with indications of the next steps that will be followed in the development, standardisation, and refinement of the instrument including investigations of concurrent and predictive validity.