Development of a Reliable and Valid Survey Instrument to Measure Nurses' Health Behaviors Towards an Infectious Disease.

The purpose of this study is to describe the process for developing a reliable and valid survey instrument guided by the protection motivation theory (PMT) to evaluate nurses' health behaviors toward an infectious disease such as Ebola. The instrument was developed and tested through a systematic process that included a literature review, focus group, validity testing, and reliability testing. The outcome variable, , contained two elements, determined by principal component analysis. The instrument's internal consistency had a Cronbach's alpha of .80 or greater. The development and testing of an instrument based on PMT constructs as the theoretical framework have demonstrated a relationship between the perceived threat toward the disease and the proposed coping process needed to address the disease.