Measuring workplace bullying in a U.S. nursing population with the Short Negative Acts Questionnaire

• Published in: Research in nursing & health Vol. 44; no. 2; pp. 319 - 328
• Main Authors: Anusiewicz, Colleen V., Li, Peng, Patrician, Patricia A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-04-2021
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Bullying; Bullying - statistics & numerical data; Classification; Confirmatory factor analysis; Construct validity; Cronbach's alpha; Delivery of Health Care; Exploratory factor analysis; Factor Analysis; Female; Health care industry; Hospitals; Humans; Latent Class Analysis; Male; Measurement; Middle Aged; Nurses; Nursing; Nursing Staff, Hospital; Questionnaires; Random effects; Reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires; United States; Validation studies; Validity; Workplace Bullying; Workplaces; Young Adult; United States; Alabama; United States > US; Surveys and Questionnaires; Factor Analysis; Delivery of Health Care; Latent Class Analysis; Nurses; Workplace Bullying
• ISSN: 0160-6891; 1098-240X
• DOI: 10.1002/nur.22117

Efforts to decrease nurse‐reported workplace bullying (WPB) is an interest among researchers, nursing leaders, and healthcare organizations. Varying conceptual definitions and measurement approaches of WPB, however, have created barriers for researchers to provide reliable and consistent information regarding WPB. In this paper, the authors aim to (1) evaluate the reliability and construct validity of the Short Negative Acts Questionnaire (SNAQ) in a sample of U.S. nurses working in hospitals located throughout Alabama, (2) determine targets and non‐targets of WPB, and (3) evaluate the criterion validity of the SNAQ based on WPB classification. The internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the SNAQ in 943 Alabama registered nurses was evaluated using Cronbach's α and confirmatory factor analysis. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to explore the underlying structure of the SNAQ. Targets and non‐targets of WPB were identified using latent class analysis of the SNAQ and by the self‐labeling item. Agreement between the two methods was evaluated with Cohen's κ. Using both methods, the association between WPB classification and outcomes empirically associated with nurse‐reported WPB was evaluated with random effects multiple logistic regression to determine criterion validity. The results indicate that the SNAQ is a reliable and valid instrument to explore WPB in a sample of U.S. registered nurses working in hospitals throughout Alabama.