Patient Privacy Attitude Scale: A Scale Development Study

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop a measurement tool to determine the attitudes of health professionals towards patient privacy.
 Material and Methods: First, an item pool of 42 items was created by the researchers and expert opinion was presented. The scale form, whose language and content validity was ensured, was applied to the sample group, and the data obtained were analyzed through LISREL 8.54 and SPSS 22.0 package programs. The validity of the scale was evaluated using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient, test-retest method and item analysis.
 Results: Exploratory factor analysis yielded a 27-item structure with 5 factors explaining 57.483% of the variance, eigenvalues above 1, and factor loadings above 0.53. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the scale showed a theoretically and statistically acceptable level of fit. The reliability of the scale was examined by test-retest method and internal consistency analysis. The total Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale was 0.91. There was no statistical difference between the test-retest means of the total and five sub-dimensions of the scale (p>0.05).
 Conclusion: The analysis shows that the scale is a reliable and valid measurement tool that can be used to determine the attitudes of health professionals towards patient privacy.