Rasch Measurement Analysis of a 25-Item Version of the Mueller/McCloskey Nurse Job Satisfaction Scale in a Sample of Nurses in Lebanon and Qatar

The Mueller/McCloskey Nurse Job Satisfaction Scale (MMSS) is widely used, but its psychometric characteristics have not been sufficiently validated for use in Middle Eastern countries. The objective of our methodological study was to determine the psychometric suitability of a 25-item version of the MMSS (MMSS-25) for use in middle-income and high-income Middle Eastern countries. A total of 1,322 registered nurses, 859 in Lebanon and 463 in Qatar, completed the MMSS-25 as part of a cross-sectional multinational investigation of nursing shortages in the region. We used the Rasch rating scale model to investigate the psychometric performance of the MMSS-25. We identified possible item bias among MMSS-25 items. We conducted confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) to compare the fit to our data of five factor structures reported in the literature. We concluded that irrespective of administration in English or Arabic, the MMSS-25 is not sufficiently productive of measurement for use in the region. A core set of 13 items (MMSS-13, Cronbach’s α = .82) loading on five dimensions eliminates redundant MMSS items and is suitable for initial screening of nurses’ satisfaction. Of the five factor structures we examined, the MMSS-13 was the only close fit to our data (comparative fit index = 0.951; Tucker–Lewis index = 0.931; root mean square error of approximation = 0.051; p value = .401). The MMSS-13 has psychometric characteristics superior to MMSS-25, but additional items are required to meet the research-specific objectives of future studies of nurses’ job satisfaction in Middle Eastern countries.