Impacts of social desirability response bias on sexuality care of cancer patients among Chinese nurses

Ding-Mei Li ,Abbey Hyde,Ying-Chun Zeng

doi:10.4236/ojn.2012.24050

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to detect social desirable response bias on Chinese nurses’ attitudes and beliefs toward sexuality care of cancer patients. A cross-sectional self-reported questionnaire based survey was used. Measures included a 12-item Inventory of Sexuality Attitude and Belief Survey (SABS) and a 10-item Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Total social desirability scores were significantly correlated with four individual items of the SABS, and significantly predicted the total SABS scores (β=﹣0.155, p= 0.028). Before controlling social desirability variable, nurses’ age, marital status, years of working experience, and working units were significantly correlated with total SABS scores. After controlling social desirability variable, only nurses’ age and working units were statistically significant predictors of SABS. Social desirable response bias had impacts on Chinese nurses’ attitudes and beliefs toward sexuality care of cancer patients. Study findings demonstrated that social desirable response bias would potentially jeopardize human sexuality assessment and counseling in nursing practice. Controlling social desirable response should consider using a social desirability scale to detect and control potential social desirability bias during data analysis.

Highlights

Total social desirability scores were significantly correlated with four individual items of the Sexuality Attitude and Belief Survey (SABS), and significantly predicted the total SABS scores (β = −0.155, p = 0.028)
This study aimed to examine the effect of social desirability response bias in a study of Chinese nurses’ attitudes and beliefs toward sexuality care of cancer patients, which might potentially jeopardize human sexuality assessment and counseling in nursing practice
Only a small portion of Chinese nurses’ social desirability mean scores were less than 5. Another principle to judge whether participants giving social desirability responses or non-social desirability responses, Edens et al [13] suggest that designating a high scorer on the standard Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale (MCSDS) as someone who scored more above the mean for the sample could be taken as social desirability response

Summary

Introduction

This study aimed to examine the effect of social desirability response bias in a study of Chinese nurses’ attitudes and beliefs toward sexuality care of cancer patients, which might potentially jeopardize human sexuality assessment and counseling in nursing practice. Social desirability response bias is a type of information bias and occurs when study participants respond in a manner that will be viewed favorably by others [2]. Nursing or health care related research often covers socially sensitive topics where constructs being measured are laden with social value judgments, both positive and negative. The validity of these sensitive research studies is potentially threatened by social desirability response bias [3]. A recent review found there were 14,275 questionnaire-based research studies listed on CINAHL from 2004-2005, and concluded that a proportion of conclusions reported in nursing and allied health journals obtained using questionnaires could be flawed due to the social desirable response bias [4]

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Results

Conclusion