Development and initial psychometric testing of a scale for ICU nurses' knowledge, belief, and behavior in critically ill patients with post-ICU syndrome

Abstract

Background: Post-ICU syndrome has not been paid enough attention in Chinese medical institutions. Due to the large population base in my country, the number of people with post-ICU syndrome is also large, which has a great impact on the quality of life of patients in the later period. Objectives To develop and verify ICU nurses' knowledge, attitude and practice scale on post-ICU syndrome in critically ill patients, to provide a basis for the investigation of post-ICU syndrome status. Methods Using the principle of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP), a scale item database was created through literature review and semi-structured interviews. The scale was modified by Delphi expert correspondence method and pre-investigation. 451 ICU nurses were selected for formal investigation, and the reliability of the scale was evaluated degree test. Results A scale of knowledge, attitude, and practice of ICU nurses on post-ICU syndrome in critically ill patients was formed, In which the number of items in the three dimensions of knowledge, attitude, and practice were 11, 7, and 13, respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient between dimensions and the total score of the scale ranged from 0.526 to 0.860, and the correlation coefficients between items and dimensions ranged from 0.517 to 0.921 (P＜0.001). Item content validity (I-CVI) ranged from 0.867 to 1, and scale content validity (S-CVI) is 0.989. Four common factors were extracted by exploratory factor analysis, and the cumulative variance explanation rate was 76.214%. Confirmatory factor analysis: Chi-square ratio of degrees of freedom (χ2/DF) =2.789, RMSEA=0.077, RMR=0.048, GFI=0.947, CFI=0.922, NFI=0.943, IFI=0.922, TLI=0.915. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the scale and dimension were 0.948, 0.976, 0.966, 0.910, split-half reliability = 0.951, and re-test reliability=0.927. Conclusion The reliability and validity of the scale meets the requirements of scale preparation, and can reflect the knowledge, belief, and behavior of ICU nurses in post-ICU syndrome.Relevance to clinical practice In this study, we developed a post-ICU syndrome knowledge, belief, and behavior survey to understand the current status of post-ICU syndrome knowledge, belief, and behavior among ICU nurses in my country.