The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate psychometric properties of the instrument, Resuscitation Self-Efficacy Scale for nurses.

This was a methodological study for instrument development and psychometric testing. The initial item pool derived from literature review and experts resulted in 30 items linked to resuscitation self-efficacy. A convenience sample of 509 Korean nurses from eleven academic teaching hospitals participated in a survey to examine psychometric properties of the scale. To examine construct validity, exploratory factor analysis and known-group comparison were used. Cronbach's coefficient alpha was used to determine the scale's internal consistency reliability.

The final scale included 17 items with four-component structure termed 'Recognition', 'Debriefing and recording', 'Responding and rescuing', and 'Reporting'. These four factors accounted for 57.5% of the variance. Each subscale and the total scale demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency: .82; .88; .87; .83; and .91 respectively. Experienced nurses reported significantly higher self-efficacy mean scores in both total and subscales compared to new graduate nurses.

The Resuscitation Self-Efficacy Scale for nurses yields reliable and valid results in appraising the level of resuscitation self-efficacy for Korean nurses. Further study is needed to test and refine the scale.