Validation of the Patient-Centred Care Competency Scale Instrument for Finnish Nurses.

Riitta Suhonen,Terhi Lemetti,Katja Lahtinen,Miko Pasanen,Minna Stolt

doi:10.3390/jpm11060583

Abstract

Patient-centredness in care is a core healthcare value and an effective healthcare delivery design requiring specific nurse competences. The aim of this study was to assess (1) the reliability, validity, and sensitivity of the Finnish version of the Patient-centred Care Competency (PCC) scale and (2) Finnish nurses’ self-assessed level of patient-centred care competency. The PCC was translated to Finnish (PCC-Fin) before data collection and analyses: descriptive statistics; Cronbach’s alpha coefficients; item analysis; exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses; inter-scale correlational analysis; and sensitivity. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were acceptable, high for the total scale, and satisfactory for the four sub-scales. Item analysis supported the internal homogeneity of the items-to-total and inter-items within the sub-scales. Explorative factor analysis suggested a three-factor solution, but the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the four-factor structure (Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) 0.92, goodness-of-fit index (GFI) 0.99, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) 0.065, standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) 0.045) with 61.2% explained variance. Analysis of the secondary data detected no differences in nurses’ self-evaluations of contextual competence, so the inter-scale correlations were high. The PCC-Fin was found to be a reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of nurses’ patient-centred care competence. Rasch model analysis would provide some further information about the item level functioning within the instrument.

Highlights

Patient-centeredness in care has been reported to be a core health care value [1,2], and the optimal design for the delivery of healthcare [3,4] requiring specific competences from healthcare professionals [5,6]
The purpose of the Patient-centred Care Competency (PCC) instrument is clearly defined, has meaningful content in the Finnish context and has acceptable internal consistency, face validity and construct validity [45]. These results demonstrate that the instrument is a useful measure of patient-centred care competency
The results of this study suggest that the PCC instrument is a valid, reliable, and sensitive instrument that could be used to measure Finnish nurses’ patient-centred care competence and may be adapted to measure the patient-centred competence of other health care workers

Summary

Introduction

Patient-centeredness in care has been reported to be a core health care value [1,2], and the optimal design for the delivery of healthcare [3,4] requiring specific competences from healthcare professionals [5,6]. Patient-centred care has been found to be a healthcare core competency [7]. The concept of patient-centred care is multidimensional, and includes domains at the individual, human level and at organizational levels [2,4,15,16,17]. Regardless of the particular title, the concepts include very similar core elements, with elements specific to professional groups in healthcare. Scholl and colleagues [18] (p. 1), in their model of patient-centredness in professionals and healthcare, identified 15 dimensions: “essential characteristics of the clinician; the clinician-patient relationship; clinician-patient communication; the patient as a unique person; the biopsychosocial perspective; patient information; patient involvement in care; involvement of family and friends; patient empowerment; physical support; emotional support; the integration of medical and non-medical care; teamwork and teambuilding; access to care; and the coordination and continuity of care”

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion