Development and Validation of the Surrogate Decision-Maker Trust Scale

Background and Purpose: Surrogate decision-maker trust in health care professionals has been previously identified as an important component in improving outcomes in the adult intensive care unit setting, but no validated instrument currently exists to measure this concept. The purpose of this study is to develop and provide initial validity support for such a scale, the Surrogate Decision-Maker Trust Scale (SDMTS). Methods: This study employed a quantitative cross-sectional survey development research design. An initial list of survey items was developed from a literature review, and this list was then evaluated for content validity by a panel of six experts and content validity index calculations. Construct validity was evaluated through regularized exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency reliability through the calculation of Coefficient alpha scores. Results: The final SDMTS contained 22 items that were best explained by a three-factor model that accounted for 48.4% of the total variance. The scale-level Coefficient alpha was .947. Conclusions: This research provides initial support for the validity and reliability of the SDMTS. Further research through confirmatory factor analysis is needed to confirm the factor structure in a new population.