2.2. Measure
The first part of the questionnaire consisted of queries about the general characteristics of the respondents, including the respondents’ gender, age, highest level of education, job experience, and years of experience in nursing administration. The second part investigated nurse managers’ informatics competencies using 49 informatics competency items identified by Hart in three categories: computer skills (25 items), for example, using e-mail and using the Internet to locate and download items of interest; informatics knowledge (20 items), such as recognizing the use and/or importance of nursing data for improving practice and identifying the basic components of the current computer system; and informatics skills (4 items), for example, performing basic trouble-shooting in applications.
The 49 competencies were translated and reviewed for relevance by an expert panel of four administrative nurses skilled in informatics. Discussions between the researchers and the author of the original questionnaire were held to verify the cross-cultural equivalence of the Chinese version. Respondents rated their personal skill level on each competency item using a five-point Likert-type scale: 1 = no experience or no competence, 2 = minimal skills, 3 = some or moderate skills, 4 = good skills or competence, and 5 = expert skill or fully competency. The final standard score was final score/highest possible score *100%.