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. 2025 Mar;12(3):e70188.
doi: 10.1002/nop2.70188.

The Nurses' Attitudes Towards Patients With Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: Development and Preliminary Validation

Fatemeh Ghaedi-Heidari  1 , Jahangir Maghsoudi  1 , Masoud Bahrami  1 , Gholamreza Kheirabadi  2 , Bahar Noori-Rahmatabadi  3   4 , Alaa Hamza Hermis  5 , Kadhim Hussein Jaasim  6 , Murtadha Abdulridha Ajel  5 , Mohammad Ali Zakeri  7   8
Affiliations

The Nurses' Attitudes Towards Patients With Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: Development and Preliminary Validation

Fatemeh Ghaedi-Heidari et al. Nurs Open. 2025 Mar.

Abstract

Aim: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a public health problem throughout the world. Nurses are usually the first caregivers in the mental health team who deal with people with NSSI. Since the consequences of self-injury are associated with its care and treatment, nurses' attitudes towards these people are an important issue. This study aimed to develop and test a scale to measure nurses' attitudes towards patients with non-suicidal self-injury in the Farsi language.

Design: A methodological survey.

Methods: In this methodological study, to scale preparation, psychometric steps were performed on a questionnaire based on the results of a qualitative study and literature review. Exploratory Factor Analysis was conducted to identify the underlying structure of the scale.

Results: The results of the psychometric evaluation showed that the scale included the 22-item NANSSI in four dimensions, including negativism about the consequences of caring, adopting a counselling approach, violating caring norms, and perceptions about self-injury. By Cronbach's alpha equal to 0.75, its reliability is estimated. This scale showed a good validity and reliability, which is applicable to evaluate quality of care for patients with non-suicidal self-injury.

No patient or public contribution: No patient or public contribution.

Keywords: attitudes; nurses; psychometric properties; self‐injurious behaviours; validation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

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FIGURE 1
Scree plot.
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