Backgrounds Intensifying geopolitical and organizational pressures have amplified psychosocial risks in healthcare, particularly in the context of persistent nursing shortages. These conditions can enable covert managerial behaviors such as quiet firing, which undermine nurse wellbeing and threaten workforce stability. Given the limited empirical evidence, a validated instrument is essential to detect such early risks and inform organizational prevention strategies. Method A Chinese version of the Quiet Firing Scale was developed through translation, back-translation, and cross-cultural adaptation. Using purposive sampling, nurses from five general hospitals were surveyed to assess the scale's reliability and validity. Results Of 782 returned questionnaires, 720 were deemed valid and included in the psychometric validation. The Chinese version comprised 7 items and demonstrated a unidimensional structure, explaining 67.36% of the total variance in exploratory factor analysis. Item-level content validity indices (I-CVI) ranged from 0.820 to 1.000, with a scale-level CVI of 0.905. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a well-fitting model (CFI = 0.991, GFI = 0.980, NFI = 0.984, IFI = 0.991, TLI = 0.983, RMSEA = 0.060). Convergent validity was confirmed by an Average Variance Extracted of 0.591 and Composite Reliability of 0.894. The scale exhibited strong internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.908), split-half reliability (0.939), and test-retest reliability (0.899). Conclusion The Chinese version of the Quiet Firing Scale is a psychometrically robust tool for assessing nurses' experiences in general hospitals. It establishes a foundation for examining its prevalence and potential effects on nurse wellbeing and workforce stability.
Tang et al. (2026) studied this question.