Purpose: This study was to develop a scale to measure difficulties encountered by cancer care by nurses and to evaluate the reliability and the validity of the scale. Methods: Self-reported questionnaires were administered to nurses who are engaged in cancer care in Tohoku University Hospital. Results: Of 512 questionnaires distributed to nurses, 356 were completed and returned 70%. We selected 49 items in 6 domains, including "communication" "knowledge and skill" "collaboration with doctor" "disclosure and explanation of disease" "hospital system and regional alliances" and "death and dying" using explanatory factor analysis. Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.68 across domains and ranged from 0.69 to 0.74 for each domain. Construct validity was demonstrated and the scaling success rates were 100% for all domains on multitrait scaling analysis. In terms of the known groups validity, the score for the nurses in the palliative care unit was significantly lower than for nurses on the general wards. Conclusion: This study showed that the scale has sufficient reliability and validity. This scale may contribute to cancer nursing by assessing hospital nurses' perception of cancer care and as a method of determining outcomes of educational or organizational interventions.

The purposes of this study were to describe nurses’ difficulty with cancer care and explore factors related to the difficulty of cancer care. Self－reported questionnaires were distributed to 512 nurses who are engaged in cancer care at Tohoku University Hospital. Responses from 344 (67％) nurses were subjected to analysis. The results revealed that nurses felt that “communication” was the most difficult aspect of cancer nursing followed by “hospital system and regional alliances” and “knowledge and skill.” Nurses did not feel that “collaboration with doctors” “disclosure and explanation of disease” or “death and dying” had particularly high levels of difficulty, however, their levels of difficulty could be improved. Greater difficulty with cancer care was reported by nurses working on the general ward and nurses with limited cancer care experience in the last year. Communication skill training,education (especially for less experienced nurses), expansion of palliative care, and restructuring of discharge planning and regional collaboration systems might contribute to decreasing nurses’ difficulty with cancer care.