Developing a Sleepiness Scale for Nurses and Physicians: A Methodological Study

ABSTRACT Aim The sleepiness of healthcare workers can negatively affect various aspects of healthcare, including patient and staff safety. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable scale to measure sleepiness in nurses and physicians working night shifts. Design A methodological study design was used in this study. Methods The scale items were developed through literature review and qualitative data analysis. The initial items of the instrument were developed based on the identified core concepts and presented to 21 experts for content validity assessment. In order to test the validity and reliability of the scale, a group of 255 nurses and 230 physicians working in a university hospital in a province of Turkey were included in the study between November 2023 and January 2024 by face‐to‐face survey method. Lawshe's content validity ratio, Kaiser–Mayer–Olkin coefficient, Bartlett's test, exploratory factor analysis, principal component analysis, Varimax factor rotation method, confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficient, Spearman correlation coefficient and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks tests were used to analyse the data. Results The sleepiness scale is a 19‐item instrument with three factors: ‘cognitive and physical effects of sleepiness on the process of working’, ‘difficulty keeping awake’ and ‘sleepiness coping strategies’. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measures indicated that the data were sufficient for exploratory factor analysis. Bartlett's test indicated patterned relationships among the items ( χ 2 = 5049.779; p < 0.001). Three factors explained 58.927% of the variance. Internal consistency was demonstrated by Cronbach's alphas of 0.921 Factor 1, 0.766 Factor 2, 0.797 Factor 3 and 0.923 total scale. According to the confirmatory factor analysis fit index results of the scale, RMSEA value was 0.062 and χ 2 /df value was 2.843. The 4‐week test–retest reliability of the sleepiness scale ( n = 51) was also satisfactory (ICC = 0.958). The Sleepiness Scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool that can be used to determine the severity of sleepiness in nurses and physicians working in the night shift. Patient or Public Contribution No patient or public contribution.