Psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the pediatric-friendly care assessment scale in the emergency department

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to adapt and evaluate the validity and reliability of the Pediatric-Friendly Care Assessment Scale in the Emergency Department, which assesses nurses' perceptions of the importance of pediatric-friendly care. Method: This methodological study was conducted with 301 nurses working in pediatric emergency departments. Linguistic adaptation was performed using forward-backward translation, and content validity was evaluated using the Davis technique. Construct validity was assessed through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Reliability was examined using Cronbach's alpha, split-half method, and Spearman-Brown and Guttman coefficients. Additionally, item-total correlations and known-group comparisons were conducted. Results: The mean age of the participants was 39.35 +/- 5.80 years, and 82.1% were female. The scale-level content validity index was found to be 0.98 based on expert evaluations. CFA results showed that the model fit was acceptable (CMIN/DF = 2.485, RMSEA = 0.070, CFI = 0.88, IFI = 0.88, GFI = 0.83, NFI = 0.82, TLI = 0.86). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the total scale was 0.93, and the alpha values for the sub-dimensions ranged from 0.60 to 0.84. Item-total scale score correlations were between 0.25 and 0.79. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the Turkish form of the scale is a valid and reliable tool for evaluating nurses' perceptions of the importance of pediatric-friendly care in pediatric emergency departments. Implications for practice The scale can be used to evaluate pediatric-friendly care practices in pediatric emergency departments and to guide training and quality improvement initiatives in this field. (c) 2026 Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.