Reliability Testing of the Psychosocial Vital Signs Assessment Tool

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Healthcare Assessment
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Holistic patient-centered care requires assessing psychosocial health variables.
• Existing tools may not comprehensively capture these crucial aspects.
• The Psychosocial Vital Signs (PVS) Assessment Tool was developed to address this gap.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct preliminary psychometric testing of the PVS Assessment Tool.
• To evaluate the internal reliability and interrater reliability of the PVS Assessment Tool.
• To establish the tool's validity for assessing psychosocial health.

Main Methods:

• A simple psychometric design was employed for testing.
• Internal reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha.
• Interrater reliability for clinician-observed anxiety was measured using Cohen's kappa.

Main Results:

• The PVS Assessment Tool demonstrated satisfactory internal reliability with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.806.
• Interrater reliability for the clinician observation item was also satisfactory, with a Cohen's kappa of 0.808.
• Testing utilized a convenience sample of 32 nursing students for internal reliability and 29 for interrater reliability.

Conclusions:

• The PVS Assessment Tool exhibits strong psychometric properties, indicating its potential utility.
• The tool is reliable for assessing patient perception, support, coping, and anxiety levels.
• This validated instrument can enhance holistic, patient-centered care by integrating psychosocial assessments.