Last update:
26-Feb-2019

OBJECTIVE Psychometric evaluation of the Greek version of the Culture/Climate Assessment Scale (CCAS) for assessing the working conditions of midwives. This instrument was developed to measure communication, decision support, level of conflict, teamwork, general work satisfaction, and the personal level of stress, perceived level of change and overall level of morale within an organization.

METHOD A cross-sectional study using the Greek CCAS was conducted in the two largest public maternity hospitals in Athens, Greece. After translation and reconciliation processing of the instrument, a pilot study was conducted on a convenience sample of midwives to finalize the Greek version. During the period May 2013 to February 2014, all eligible midwives (123) in the two hospitals were invited to complete the questionnaire, of which 23 declined for a range of reasons (response rate: 81.3%). Cronbach's alpha and Guttman split-half coefficients were calculated to assess the reproducibility and internal consistency of the scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in order to check the structural validity of the scale.

RESULTS Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) confirmed the multidimensionality of the Greek scale, revealing 7 orthogonal factors. The 7 factor model offered a very good fit with the data as assessed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The values for Cronbach's alpha and Guttmann split-half coefficients were 0.878 and 0.757, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS The Greek version of the CCAS provides an acceptable level of reliability and validity for assessment of the organizational culture and climate in the work environment of midwifery staff. Use of this scale will enable further exploration of the factors that determine the working conditions and affect the job satisfaction of midwives in Greece.

Key words: Culture/Climate Assessment Scale (CCAS), Midwives, Reliability, Validity.