Self-efficacy and outcome expectations regarding client activation determine professionals’ level of actively engaging clients during daily activities. The Client Activation Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectation Scales for nurses and domestic support workers (DSWs) were developed to measure these concepts. This study aimed to assess their psychometric properties. Cross-sectional data from a sample of Dutch nurses (n=150) and DSWs (n=155) were analysed. Descriptive statistics were used to examine floor and ceiling effects. Construct validity was assessed by testing research-based hypotheses. Internal consistency was determined with Cronbach’s alpha. The scales for nurses showed a ceiling effect. There were no floor or ceiling effects in the scales for domestic support workers. Three out of five hypotheses could be confirmed (construct validity). For all scales, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients exceeded 0.70. In conclusion, all scales had moderate construct validity and high internal consistency. Further research is needed concerning their construct validity, testretest reliability and sensitivity to change.
AIM: This paper is a report of the development and testing of the psychometric properties of an instrument to measure the accuracy of nursing documentation in general hospitals.BACKGROUND: Little information is available about the accuracy of nursing documentation. None of the existing instruments that quantify accuracy of nursing diagnoses, interventions, and progress and outcome evaluations are suitable to measure documentation in general hospital environments, nor were they intended for this purpose.METHOD: The D-Catch instrument, based on the Cat-ch-Ing instrument and the Scale for Degrees of Accuracy in Nursing Diagnoses, was developed in 2007-2008. Content validity of the D-Catch instrument was assessed by two Delphi panels, in which pairs of independent reviewers assessed 245 patient records in seven hospitals in the Netherlands. Construct validity was assessed by explorative factor analysis with principal components and varimax rotation. Internal consistency was measured by Cronbach's alpha. The inter-rater reliability of the D-Catch instrument was tested by calculating Cohen's weighted kappa (K(w)) for each pair of reviewers. Results. Quantity and quality variables were used to assess the accuracy of nursing documentation. Three constructs were identified in the factor analysis. 'Accuracy of the nursing diagnosis' was the only variable with substantial loading on component two (0.907) and a modest loading on component one (0.230). Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.722. The inter-rater reliability (K(w)) varied between 0.742 and 0.896.CONCLUSION: The D-Catch instrument is a valid and reliable measurement instrument to assess nursing documentation in general hospital settings.
We show how to estimate a Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient in Stata after running a principal component or factor analysis. Alpha evaluates to what extent items measure the same underlying content when the items are combined into a scale or used for latent variable. Stata allows for testing the reliability coefficient (alpha) of a scale only when all items receive homogenous weights. We present a user-written program that computes reliability coefficients when implementation of principal component or factor analysis shows heterogeneous item loadings. We use data on management practices from Bloom and Van Reenen (2010) to explain how to implement and interpret the adjusted internal consistency measure using afa.
