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Developing and testing an instrument for the measurement of individual care
Author(s) -
Suhonen Riitta,
Välimäki Maritta,
Katajisto Jouko
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of advanced nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.948
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1365-2648
pISSN - 0309-2402
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2648.2000.01596.x
Subject(s) - cronbach's alpha , exploratory factor analysis , reliability (semiconductor) , psychometric testing , psychometrics , internal consistency , psychology , survey instrument , scale (ratio) , sample (material) , item analysis , medicine , applied psychology , clinical psychology , power (physics) , chemistry , physics , chromatography , quantum mechanics
Developing and testing an instrument for the measurement of individual care This paper describes a preliminary study in which an instrument was developed for the measurement of individual care in adult patients and in which the reliability and validity of the instrument were evaluated. Individual care was defined in terms of how patient individuality was taken into account and how patient participation in decision‐making was facilitated. The purpose here is to describe the process by which the individual care instrument (IC) was developed, the preliminary testing of the instrument and psychometric evaluation of the instrument in a sample of adult patients discharged from a Finnish general Hospital ( n =203). Item analyses showed an acceptable level of internal consistency reliability and homogeneity in each scale of the IC, and Cronbach α values were high in every measurement. Exploratory factor analysis supported a three‐factor solution. The psychometric evaluations suggested that the instrument is worthy of further development.