Developing and testing an instrument for the measurement of individual care

Abstract

This paper describes a preliminary study in which an instrument was developed for the measurement of individual care in adult patients and in which the reliability and validity of the instrument were evaluated. Individual care was defined in terms of how patient individuality was taken into account and how patient participation in decision-making was facilitated. The purpose here is to describe the process by which the individual care instrument (IC) was developed, the preliminary testing of the instrument and psychometric evaluation of the instrument in a sample of adult patients discharged from a Finnish general Hospital (n=203). Item analyses showed an acceptable level of internal consistency reliability and homogeneity in each scale of the IC, and Cronbach alpha values were high in every measurement. Exploratory factor analysis supported a three-factor solution. The psychometric evaluations suggested that the instrument is worthy of further development.

Impact of patient characteristics on orthopaedic and trauma patients' perceptions of individualised nursing care

“…Individualised care was measured using the ICS, 45,49–52 which has two parts: Support of individuality during nursing interventions ICS‐A and the perception of individuality in care received ICS‐B. Individualised care, as seen from the patients' point of view, can be evaluated from two different perspectives: by exploring patients' views on how they feel their individuality is supported through specific nursing interventions and by looking at how they perceive individuality in their own care.…”

“…The development and testing of the ICS was based on scores collected in several datasets from discharged hospital patients 51 and has been systematically validated for research use. There is evidence for the ICS criterion‐related validity, 52 content validity, 50,52 factor structure, 49,51 internal consistency, 51 stability 49 and cultural validity 46,47,54,55 …”

The effectiveness of bedside handovers: A multilevel, longitudinal study of effects on nurses and patients

“…The QPP consists of four subscales: medical technical competence (QPP‐MT), physical technical conditions (QPP‐PT), identity‐oriented approach (QPP‐IO) and socio‐cultural atmosphere (QPP‐SC). Individualized care was measured by the individualized care scale for patients (ICS‐Patient; Suhonen, Leino‐Kilpi, & Valimaki, ; Suhonen, Valimaki, & Katajisto, ; Suhonen, Valimaki, Katajisto, & Leino‐Kilpi, ; α = 0.84). The ICS consists of two parts with 17 items (ICS‐A/ICS‐B), each containing three subscales: clinical situation (CS; seven items), personal life situation (PLS; four items) and decisional control over care (DC; six items).…”

Individualized care scale – nurse version: a Finnish validation study

“…Individualized care has been studied and conceptualized from both the patients' [3,11–14] and nurses' perspective [1,15–17]. Suhonen et al.…”