Vol. 6, Issue 2, Part B (2024)

Background: As the nursing profession evolves, it demands improvements in patient care and outcomes. Self-efficacy, which is the belief in one's ability to carry out duties efficiently, is a key component of stress management and high-quality treatment among pediatric nurses in Iraq. It is essential to comprehend levels of self-efficacy in order to address particular challenges, advance professional growth, and improve service quality. 
The purpose of this study is to develop and validate the Nursing Career Self-Efficacy Scale (NCSES), a tool for evaluating pediatric nurses' self-efficacy in Iraq. It also made an effort to investigate the relationship between self-efficacy, years of experience, and specific nursing skills. 
Methods: Sixty pediatric nurses from two large Iraqi hospitals participated in a cross-sectional study. After a thorough validation process, the NCSES—a 30-item Likert scale with a range of 1 (low confidence) to 9 (high confidence)—achieved a Content Validity Index (CVI) of 0.90.
Pilot testing increased item clarity. Data analysis comprised descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha, independent samples t-tests, and one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey's HSD testing using SPSS Statistics version 28. Ethical permission was obtained for the research.
Results: The pediatric nurses had a mean age = (34.5) yrs. (SD = 6.7), with =70% of participants being female (n = 42). Most nurses participants had a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (n = 48, 80%) and were employed at Babylon Maternity Teaching Hospital (n = 35, 58.3%). The mean NCSES score was 6.9 (SD = 1.2), suggesting a high degree of self-efficacy. The greatest scores were reported in Communication with Families (M = 8.2, SD = 0.7) and Ethical Decision-Making (M = 7.5, SD = 0.8), while the lowest values were discovered in Research Engagement (M = 6.1, SD = 1.3), suggesting diversity between skill areas. Exploratory component analysis found five factors—clinical skills, communication, ethical decision-making, patient safety, and professional development—accounting for 76% of the variation. Bartlett’s test was significant (χ²(105) = 632.1, p< .001), and the KMO measure was 0.89. The NCSES revealed strong internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.92). A significant influence of experience on self-efficacy was revealed using ANOVA (F(4, 55) = 8.73, p < .001, η² = 0.38). Post-hoc analyses indicated that nurses with more than ten years of experience had substantially higher ratings in communication (p< .01, Cohen’s d = 0.92) and patient safety (p< .05, Cohen’s d = 0.90) compared to those with less than two years of experience.
Conclusion: The NCSES, a robust and dependable tool for evaluating self-efficacy among Iraqi pediatric nurses, is presented in this study. The results show a high level of self-efficacy overall, but they also point to the need for mentoring and research integration-focused professional development programs specifically designed to meet the requirements of pediatric nurses in Iraq. To evaluate the success of such therapies, forthcoming studies should handle positive factor investigation, designs that are longer-term, and wider different populations participants.