The development and psychometric testing of three instruments that measure person-centred caring as three concepts -...

To develop and test the psychometric properties of three instruments that measure Person-centred Caring: as Personalization, Participation and Responsiveness.

A three-phase mixed methods design used two frameworks: content validity determination and quantification; consensus-based standards for selection of health measurement instruments.

A narrative literature review identified the domain definition. A systematic review of instruments provided the basis for item pools, which were refined by focus groups (N = 4) of multidisciplinary staff and service users (N = 25) and cognitive interviews (N = 11) with service users. Scale content validity indexes were calculated. Three cross-sectional surveys were conducted between April 2015 and June 2016. The instruments' psychometric properties tested included factor structure, internal consistency and construct validity. Convergent validity was tested, hypothesizing that: Personalization related to relational empathy; Participation related to empowerment; and Responsiveness related to trust.

Scale content validity indexes were ≥0.96 in all instruments. Response rates were 24% (N = 191), 15% (N = 108) and 19% (N = 124). Two factors were revealed for the Personalization and Responsiveness instruments and one factor for the Participation instrument. All had acceptable: reliability (Cronbach's Alpha >0.7); construct validity (>50%); and convergent validity (Spearman's correlation coefficient >0.25, p < 0.05).

This study composed definitions and instruments that reflect the multidisciplinary teams' caring behaviours, which have acceptable reliability and validity in the community population. Further psychometric testing of Participation and Responsiveness instruments should be undertaken with a larger sample.

The instruments can be used to monitor the variability of multidisciplinary teams' caring behaviours; research effective interventions to improve caring behaviours; and increase understanding of the impact of caring on health outcomes.