Instruments used to measure knowledge and attitudes of healthcare professionals towards antibiotic use for the treatment of urinary tract infections: A systematic review

Abstract

Background Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the second most common condition (after upper respiratory tract infections) for which adults receive antibiotics, and this prevalence may contribute to antibiotic resistance. Knowledge and attitudes have been identified as potential determinants of antibiotic prescribing behaviour among healthcare professionals in the treatment and management of UTIs. An instrument that captures prescribers’ baseline knowledge of and attitudes towards antibiotic prescribing for UTIs could inform interventions to enhance prescribing. The current systematic review evaluates the psychometric properties of instruments already available and describes the theoretical constructs they measure. Methods Five electronic databases were searched for published studies and instruments. The Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement Instruments checklist was used to assess the psychometric quality reporting of the instruments. The items included in each instrument were mapped onto the theoretical constructs underlying knowledge and attitudes using a mixed-theoretical model developed for this study. Results Fourteen studies met the review inclusion criteria. All instruments were available for review. None of the instruments had all the psychometric properties evaluated. Most of the instruments sought to identify knowledge and/or attitude factors influencing antibiotic prescribing for UTIs rather than to measure/assess knowledge and attitudes. Conclusions Few instruments for the assessment of knowledge and attitudes of healthcare professionals towards antibiotic use and UTI treatment are available. None of the instruments underwent the full development process to ensure that all psychometric properties were met. Furthermore, none of the instruments assessed all domains of knowledge and attitudes. Therefore, the ability of the instruments to provide a robust measurement of knowledge and attitudes is doubtful. There is a need for an instrument that fully and accurately measures the constructs of knowledge and attitude of healthcare professionals in the treatment of UTIs.

Health care professionals' knowledge and attitudes towards antibiotic prescribing for the treatment of urinary tract infections: A systematic review

“…The current review extends a review already published by Mwape et al (2022). In the previous review, Mwape et al (2022) focused on the psychometric properties of existing instruments that measure the knowledge and attitudes of health care professionals towards antibiotic use for treating UTIs.…”

“…The current review extends a review already published by Mwape et al (2022). In the previous review, Mwape et al (2022) focused on the psychometric properties of existing instruments that measure the knowledge and attitudes of health care professionals towards antibiotic use for treating UTIs. The previous review neither report information about the levels of knowledge and attitudes found in the studies retrieved, nor the item types used to conduct those assessments.…”

“…The current review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA; Figure S1; Moher et al, 2009). The review was registered on 26 April 2021 at the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (Mwape et al, 2022).…”

Development and Validation of Knowledge Assessment Scales for Dementia and Urinary Incontinence in Community Older People

“…Even so, convenience sampling was acceptable in such studies (Chen et al, 2023;Del Ponte et al, 2022;Shyu et al, 2018). Third, criterion validity of the two scales were not tested as there are no gold standard instrument existed to assess knowledge according to Mwape et al (2022) and in view of the limitations of the current instruments. Additionally, the retest reliability of the scale has not been examined, since we provided health education to the older people after the survey was complete, which might affect the retest reliability.…”

Knowledge and attitude factors influencing primary care clinicians' diagnosis, treatment and management of urinary tract infections in women: A qualitative ‘think’ aloud study in England

“…According to the model by Teixeira Rodrigues et al, 16 the attitude can be broken down into six factors: complacency, fear, ignorance, indifference, responsibility and confidence. Mwape et al 17 proposed an umbrella model that merges the aforementioned models, and it applies specifically to UTIs, as shown in Table 1.…”