Development and validation of the Delirium Burden Scale for Healthcare Providers (DBS-HCP)

Currently, there is no well-validated measure intended for use by both physicians and nurses working on general hospital wards that assesses the burden of caring for or treating patients with delirium. To address this unmet need, we aimed to develop and evaluate the reliability and validity of a scale assessing the burden experienced by physicians and nurses treating or caring for patients with delirium on general hospital wards.

The 25 items for the draft Delirium Burden Scale for HealthCare Providers (DBS-HCP) were generated from a targeted literature review and qualitative research. Interviews with experts established the scale's content validity. After a pilot survey, 311 physicians and 311 nurses working on general wards in Japan completed the draft DBS-HCP in the main survey. Statistical analyses evaluated the scale's factor structure, reliability, and validity.

Exploratory factor analysis identified 22 items loading on two factors, which had good reliability (Cronbach's α was 0.93 for Factor 1 and 0.89 for Factor 2). In known-groups validity analysis, burden was higher for nurses than physicians and higher among HCPs who treated or cared for more delirium patients. The correlation between the finalized DBS-HCP and Japanese Burnout Scale (r = 0.34, p < 0.001) established construct validity.

We developed DBS-HCP, a validated scale, to assess the burden of treating or caring for patients with delirium experienced by physicians and nurses working on general wards. Further study is needed to establish the utility of the DBS-HCP for evaluating interventions to reduce delirium burden.