Development of the inpatient attitudes towards the patient role scale

The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable, valid scale that can measure inpatients' tendencies and level of effort in dealing with their role of patient.

The question items were developed from interviews and a review of the literature. After examining the content validity, a pretest and pilot study were conducted. Then, the 27 item Inpatient Attitudes Towards the Patient Role Scale was created. A self-administered questionnaire survey with 399 inpatients was conducted in order to examine the reliability and validity of this scale.

Two-hundred-and-sixteen patients completed and returned the questionnaire (54.1% response rate). The respondents were aged between 20 years and ≥80 years (median: 60s); 60% were male and 39% were female. Based on a factor analysis, the following four common factors were extracted from 21 out of the 27 original items: "patient adherence", "consideration", "self-expression", and "mental attitude". The evidence from an examination of the construct validity and stability suggests that the scale has good reliability and promising validity. Older adult patients tended to make more effort than younger patients. The patients who believed that it would take them a certain amount of time to recover and those who trusted the healthcare staff tended to make more effort.

A reliable and valid scale to measure inpatient attitudes towards the patient role was developed. This scale might provide useful information for nursing practice.