• Sue Kim, Hee Sun Kang, and Jung-Hee Kim.
• College of Nursing, Nursing Policy Research Institute, Yonsei University, 250 Seongsanno, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752, Republic of Korea.
• Int J Nurs Stud. 2011 Dec 1;48(12):1522-32.

BackgroundOncology nurses should possess a high level of sensitivity while dealing with patients' sexual health needs. However, sexual health care is still inadequately addressed because of barriers such as conservative beliefs and incorrect assumptions regarding sexual issues. Most scales for measuring attitude toward sexual health care were insufficient to establish the instrument's validity and did not focus on oncology nurses.Aims And ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to develop a scale considering cultural contexts to investigate nurses' attitude toward sexual health care in patients suffering from cancer.DesignThis study was designed for scale development.MethodsA preliminary version of the instrument was developed through a literature review and interviews with 10 oncology nurses; this version consisted of 42 items rated on a 3-point scale. Eight experts reviewed the questionnaire for content validity and consolidated 36 items. Data were collected from 342 oncology nurses in Korea. Exploratory factor analysis was performed, and reliability was assessed using Cronbach α values. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to test the concurrent validity.ResultsExploratory factor analysis revealed 17 items (4 factors), which account for 70.49% of the total variance. The 4 factors were (1) discomfort in providing sexual health care (7 items), (2) feeling uncertain about patient's acceptance (4 items), (3) afraid of colleagues' negative response (3 items), and (4) lack of environmental support (3 items). Correlation of the sub-factors ranged from 0.35 to 0.63. The Cronbach α value was 0.92. Significant negative correlations were found between the attitude toward sexual health care and the Sexuality Attitudes and Belief Survey (r=-0.57, p<0.001).ConclusionThe scale of attitude toward sexual health care showed validity and reliability in evaluating the attitude of oncology nurses toward sexual health care and can be used to identify attitudinal barriers in nurses as well as to develop and test educational interventions for the improvement of sexual health care.2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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