Validity and Reliability of the Korean Version of the Watson Caritas Patient Score

The increasing use of information technology in healthcare settings has reduced human contact with healthcare providers and is hampering human-centered intrinsic nursing work associated with patient discomfort, emotional distress, and desire. The caring attitude of nurses affects patient compliance with medication instructions as well as the promotion of health behaviors and patient satisfaction.

This study was designed to develop a Korean version of the Watson Caritas Patient Score (WCPS) developed by Watson and then verify its reliability and validity.

This was a methodological study. Data were collected from 240 patients in wards of the departments of internal medicine and surgery of a general hospital with more than 500 beds in Kunsan City between May 1 and June 8, 2017. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to verify the construct validity and model fit. The Patient Perception of Hospital Experience with Nursing was used to confirm convergence validity. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, Cronbach's alpha, factor analysis, and Pearson's product-moment correlation analysis.

The internal consistency of the Korean version of the WCPS assessed using Cronbach's alpha was .94. The content validity index for each of the five items was 1.0. The communality ranged from .75 to .87, and the overall model fit was good. In addition, the average variance extracted was .61, the composite reliability was .89, and the convergent validity was .72 (p < .001).

The original English version and the Korean version of the WCPS both address a single factor, which confirmed the reliability and good fit of the model and showed both convergent and criterion-related validity. The Korean version of the WCPS is expected to contribute to improving the quality of nursing care in Korea by providing a simple scale that assesses patient perceptions of nursing care easily and accurately.