Abstract
BackgroundProviding high-quality diabetes care in nursing homes and home-based care facilities requires suitable instruments to evaluate the level of diabetes knowledge among the health-care providers. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test adapted for use among nursing personnel.MethodsThe study included 127 nursing personnel (32 registered nurses, 69 nursing aides and 26 nursing assistants) at three nursing homes and one home-based care facility in Norway. We examined the reliability and content and construct validity of the Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test.ResultsThe items in both the general diabetes subscale and the insulin-use subscale were considered relevant and appropriate. The instrument showed satisfactory properties for distinguishing between groups. Item response theory-based measurements and item information curves indicate maximum information at average or lower knowledge scores. Internal consistency and the item-total correlations were quite weak, indicating that the Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test measures a set of items related to various relevant knowledge topics but not necessarily related to each other.ConclusionsThe Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test measures a broad range of topics relevant to diabetes care. It is an appropriate instrument for identifying individual and distinct needs for diabetes education among nursing personnel. The knowledge gaps identified by the Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test could also provide useful input for the content of educational activities. However, some revision of the test should be considered.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12912-016-0159-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Providing high-quality diabetes care in nursing homes and home-based care facilities requires suitable instruments to evaluate the level of diabetes knowledge among the health-care providers
This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of an adapted version of the Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test (MDKT) for use among nursing personnel regarding its reliability and content and construct validity
The original MDKT included 23 items divided into two subscales: the general diabetes subscale with 14 items (e.g. “Which should not be used to treat low blood glucose?”) and the insulin-use subscale with nine items (e.g. “If you are sick with the flu, which of the following changes should you make?”)
Summary
Providing high-quality diabetes care in nursing homes and home-based care facilities requires suitable instruments to evaluate the level of diabetes knowledge among the health-care providers. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test adapted for use among nursing personnel. Adequate and appropriate diabetes knowledge among the nursing personnel providing care for older people with diabetes is required to meet the complex daily care needs among this group of older people. Ensuring adequate diabetes knowledge to provide highquality diabetes care in community care settings requires suitable instruments to evaluate the level of diabetes knowledge among nursing personnel. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of an adapted version of the Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test (MDKT) for use among nursing personnel (registered nurses, nursing aides and nursing assistants) regarding its reliability (including internal consistency and item-total correlations) and content and construct validity (including item response theory analysis and the ability to distinguish between groups). We hypothesized the following: 1. Registered nurses, nursing aides and nursing assistants who report experiencing their diabetes knowledge as sufficient, will obtain higher scores on both the MDKT general diabetes subscale and the insulin-use subscale than those who report experiencing their diabetes knowledge as insufficient in relation to their work tasks
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