Constructing a questionnaire for assessment of awareness and acceptance of diversity in healthcare institutions

Development and validation of a questionnaire to evaluate attitudes and beliefs of discrimination by nursing staff

OBJECTIVE

Aim: The purpose of this study is to report on the development and initial psychometric testing of a questionnaire to investigate nurses' discrimination attitudes and beliefs towards people of dif f erent ethnic origins.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Materials and Methods: The initial stage involved the selection of the questions of the tool after a comprehensive evaluation of the relevant international literature and the tools used in previous related studies. The reliability (forward-backward translation) of the questions was assessed, along with the content, face, and structure. To conduct the study, which was carried out from 07/2021 to 01/2022 a sample consisting of 30 and 2,034 nurses and their assistants was used for the pilot and the fi nal research, respectively.

RESULTS

Results: Given that the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) threshold value of 0.89 was achieved, the sample was considered sufficient and appropriate for factor analysis. A statistically signif i cant result (p<0.001) from Bartlett's test indicated a substantial connection between the questions and conf i rmed that the data were suitable for factor analysis. Twenty statements altogether, with seven possible answers ranging from "totally disagree" to "completely agree," were included in the questionnaire. For the questions, three distinct factors - communication, difficulties, and discrimination - were shown to account for 47.1% of the variability. Reliability analyzes showed satisfactory Cronbach alpha coefficient scores for all factors, ranging from 0.78 to 0.82.

CONCLUSION

Conclusions: The current study demonstrates that the questionnaire we developed is a legitimate and trustworthy instrument for evaluating professional nurses' discriminatory attitudes and beliefs toward individuals from various ethnic backgrounds. The questionnaire can be used to help design interventions to end discrimination, guarantee equitable access to healthcare services, and provide high-quality care for individuals from diverse backgrounds. It can also be used to identify the factors that inf l uence nurses' attitudes and perceptions toward these patient populations.

Psychometric Properties of Nurse Cultural Competence Scale among Filipino Nurses

Purpose: Assessment of the cultural competence of nurses is becoming an important parameter in assessing the provision of quality care to patients especially in multicultural populations such as the Philippines. The study was conducted to assess the construct validity and internal consistency reliability of the Nurse Cultural Competence Scale (NCCS) among Filipino nurses. Methods: A methodological study was utilized and a convenience sample of 124 Filipino nurses were included in the study. An exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the construct validity of the instrument while internal consistency reliability was determined using Cronbach’s α coefficient and item-total correlations. Results: The 20-item NCCS was loaded on one dimension with factor loadings ranging from 0.72 to 0.95, explaining 79.19% of the total variance. Cronbach’s α was 0.986 which demonstrated high reliability and item-total correlations were between 0.811 and 0.929. Conclusion: The NCCS is a reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of cultural competencies among Filipino nurses. Keywords: Cultural competence, Filipino nurses, Reliability, Validity

Adapted tool for the assessment of domestic violence against women in a low-income country setting: a reliability analysis

Background

One-in-three women has experienced domestic violence, which is a serious public health problem and a human right violation. Domestic violence is a common life experience among women in Ethiopia. The tool used to assess violence against women (VAW) has not been validated to assess its consistency. Cronbach's alpha (α, or coefficient alpha) is a measure of internal consistency, or reliability, that is, how closely a set of items are related as a group. Reliability is how well a test measures what it should. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate the inter-item correlation (reliability) of the tool adapted from literature.

Methods

A community-based study was conducted in Northwestern Ethiopia between November 15, 2017 and December 31, 2017. A total of 1,269 women at their permanent place of residence (specifically at their households) were recruited using the multistage stratified systematic sampling method. A structured questionnaire was adapted from literature. Also, 12 trained female data collectors collected the data using the face-to-face interview method. Data were entered into EpiData 3.1.0 and exported to SPSS 23.0 for analysis. Descriptive statistical analysis was carried out to estimate the reliability of the response(s).

Results

Overall, Cronbach's alpha was higher than the minimum recommended value of 0.70. Cronbach's alpha for specific sections were 0.764 for women's decision-making autonomy (13 items); women's accepting attitude toward justified wife-beating (five items, 0.894); physical violence (seven items, 0.876); psychological violence (15 items, 0.925); sexual violence (five items, 0.812); and inequitable gender-norms (seven items, 0.867).

Conclusion

The tool used to assess domestic VAW in Northwestern Ethiopia had a high reliability. Therefore, researchers can adapt the tool and further assess its reliability in other settings to have a common and validated tool to study VAW in a low-income countries.

Validity and Reliability of the Turkish Version of the Nurse Cultural Competence Scale

Purpose: Measuring the cultural competence of nurses is becoming an increasingly important aspect to assess the quality care for individuals in multicultural populations such as Turkey. The purpose is to adapt the Nurse Cultural Competence Scale (NCCS) into the Turkish language and to determine its validity and reliability. Design: A total of 235 nurses were included in the methodological study in Antalya, Turkey. The NCCS-Turkish (NCCS-T) form was used after linguistics and psychometric measurements. Results: Cronbach’s α value was .96, which demonstrated high reliability, and item–total correlations were between .66 and .81.Test–retest reliability correlation was .90. The content validity index was .98, and the 20 items of the NCCS-T loading on one factor varied between .70 and .83, explaining 59.02% of the variance. Conclusions: Psychometric properties of the NCCS-T were highly reliable and valid. Implications for Practice: The scale can be used in the cross-cultural studies to compare nurses’ cultural competency.

A current assessment of diversity characteristics and perceptions of their importance in the surgical workforce

INTRODUCTION

Diversity in the workforce is vital to successful businesses. Healthcare in general has suffered from a lack of cultural competence, which is the ability to successfully interact with individuals from diverse backgrounds. In order to eliminate discrimination and build a diverse workforce, physicians' perceptions and importance of diversity need to be measured.

METHODS

A 25-item, anonymous, online questionnaire was created, and a cross-sectional survey was performed. The instrument consisted of demographic and Likert-style questions which attempted to determine the participants' perceptions of the current level of diversity in their specialty and their perceived importance of particular diversity categories.

RESULTS

Over 1,000 responses were received from US-based physicians across all specialties and levels of training. Statistically significant differences existed between surgical and nonsurgical specialties with regard to gender, prior work experience, and political identity. In the surgical workforce, there is significant perceived homogeneity regarding gender/sexual identity. Surgical respondents also deemed gender/sexual identity diversity to be less important than respondents from medical specialties.

CONCLUSION

Surgeons and surgical trainees are less diverse than their medical colleagues, both by demographics and self-acknowledgement. The long-term impact and potential barriers to resolve these differences in diversity require further investigation.