Individualised Care Scale-Nurse: Construct validity and internal consistency of the Spanish version

BACKGROUND

Individualising the provided care is mandatory in nursing and is essential in clinical practice. Therefore, there is a need to develop accurate instruments to evaluate the quality of care. Moreover, there is no validated instrument to assess nurses' views of individualised care in Spanish-speaking countries.

AIM

To assess the construct validity and internal consistency of the Spanish version of the Individualised Care Scale-Nurse.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study including 108 nursing professionals (40.84 ± 9.51 years old, 86.1% female) was used to validate the Spanish Individualised Care Scale-Nurse version. A forward-back translation method with an expert panel and a cross-sectional study was used for transcultural adaptation and psychometric validation purposes. Psychometric properties of feasibility, reliability and validity were assessed. Construct validity was examined through a confirmatory factor analysis and fit indices of the overall model were computed. Internal consistency was explored through McDonald's omega and Cronbach's alpha coefficients among other correlation measures.

RESULTS

The back-translation concluded both Spanish and English Individualised Care Scale-Nurse versions to be equivalent. The original structure of the Individualised Care Scale-Nurse was verified in the Spanish version through the confirmatory factor analysis (factor loadings >0.3; acceptable fit indices: SRMR ≈ 0.08, CFI ≈ 0.9, RMSEA ≈ 0.09 after posteriori modifications). McDonald's omega exceeded 0.7 for both subscales and complete scales revealing an adequate internal consistency.

CONCLUSIONS

The Spanish version of the Individualised Care Scale-Nurse has exhibited good properties of homogeneity and construct validity for its use in practice and research in health care systems.

The Dutch Individualised Care Scale for patients and nurses - a psychometric validation study

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Translating and psychometrically assessing the Individualised Care Scale (ICS) for patients and nurses for the Flemish and Dutch healthcare context.

BACKGROUND

Individualised care interventions have positive effects on health outcomes. However, there are no valid and reliable instruments for evaluating individualised care for the Flemish and Dutch healthcare context.

DESIGN

Psychometric validation study.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

In Flemish hospitals, data were collected between February and June 2016, and in Dutch hospitals, data were collected between December 2014 and May 2015. Nurses with direct patient contact and a working experience of minimum 6 months on the wards could participate. Patient inclusion criteria were being an adult, being mentally competent, having an expected hospital stay of minimum 1 day, and being able to speak and read the Dutch language. In total, 845 patients and 569 nurses were included.

METHODS

The ICS was translated into Dutch using a forward-backward translation process. Minimal linguistic adaptations to the Dutch ICS were made to use the scale as a Flemish equivalent. Omega, Cronbach's Alpha, mean inter-item correlations and standardised subscale correlations established the reliability and confirmatory factor analysis the construct validity of the ICS.

RESULTS

Internal consistency using Omega (Cronbach's Alpha) ranged from 0.83 to 0.96 (0.82-0.95) for the ICS-Nurse and from 0.88 to 0.96 (0.87-0.96) for the ICS-Patient. Fit indices of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good model fit, except for the root mean square error of approximation, which indicated only moderate model fit.

CONCLUSION

The Dutch version of the ICS showed acceptable psychometric performance, supporting its use for the Dutch and Flemish healthcare context.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Knowledge of nurses' and patients' perceptions on individualised care will aid to target areas in the Dutch and Flemish healthcare context in which work needs to be undertaken to provide individualised nursing care.

A randomized clinical trial of a new perioperative practice model on anxiety and health-related quality of life in arthroplasty patients

Aims

To explore the effectiveness of a new perioperative practice model on anxiety and health‐related quality of life in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty and total knee arthroplasty under spinal anaesthesia.

Design

A randomized clinical trial.

Methods

Control group participants (N = 222) received standard perioperative care, meaning they were cared for by various nurses during their perioperative process without postoperative visits. Intervention group participants (N = 231) were assigned one named anaesthesia nurse during their entire perioperative process who visited them postoperatively. Both groups responded to two self‐reported questionnaires: the generic 15D health‐related quality of life instrument and the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) measuring anxiety two to three weeks pre‐operatively and three months postoperatively.

Results

There were no statistically significant differences between the groups at baseline or at follow‐up in health‐related quality of life or anxiety.

Factors associated with the provision of individualized care during hospitalization: A systematic review

AIM

To analyse and integrate the existing literature on nurses' perceptions regarding factors associated with the provision of individualized care in hospital contexts.

BACKGROUND

Individualized care considers the personal characteristics of patients and promotes their participation in decision-making. The application of individualized care is not standardized among professionals.

METHODS

A systematic literature search was performed in Scopus, Web of Science, MEDLINE, Índice Médico Español, CUIDEN, ProQuest, PsycoINFO, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library, for studies published in English or Spanish analysing nurses' perceptions on factors associated with the provision of individualized care.

RESULTS

A total of 6,330 articles were retrieved, of which 13 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The provision of individualized care was influenced by the nurses' personal characteristics (academic training, being a specialist, age, professional experience, personal motivation, empathy and culture) and by organisational factors (staff ratio, routinization and standardization of care, autonomous professional practice, leadership and positive work environment).

CONCLUSIONS

Nurses' perceptions on the provision of individualized care are influenced by their personal characteristics and organisational factors.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Nurse managers may optimize personalization of care by encouraging positive work environments; ensuring adequate staffing; avoiding routinization or standardization of care; and promoting training, leadership and autonomy of nursing professionals.