KIT TOOL-S2 for the Portuguese Healthcare Professional: A Psychometric Analysis

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Patient Safety Research
• Health Professional Education

Background:

• Patient safety is paramount in healthcare, requiring effective implementation of multiprofessional guidelines.
• Health professional literacy on patient safety protocols is crucial for preventing adverse events.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) developed a guide to enhance multiprofessional collaboration in patient safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To translate, culturally adapt, and validate the WHO Questionnaire to Assess the Implementation of the Multiprofessional Guide for the Portuguese context.
• To ensure the psychometric properties of the adapted questionnaire are suitable for use with health professionals in Portugal.

Main Methods:

• A rigorous translation and cultural adaptation process was undertaken.
• Psychometric analysis involved a sample of 300 health professionals.
• Validity (apparent, content, convergent, discriminant) and reliability (Cronbach's alpha) were assessed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.

Main Results:

• Exploratory factor analysis identified a four-factor structure explaining 43.0% of the variance, with an overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.759.
• Confirmatory factor analysis refined the structure by removing specific items causing multicollinearity.
• The final scale, "KIT TOOL-S2 TEXT," demonstrated good overall fit indices, indicating reliability.

Conclusions:

• The "KIT TOOL-S2 TEXT" scale is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the implementation of multiprofessional patient safety guides in Portugal.
• The validated scale can be utilized to evaluate and improve patient safety practices among health professionals.
• This study contributes to enhancing health professional literacy and adherence to patient safety guidelines in the Portuguese healthcare system.