Introducing the Validated Healthcare Professionals’ Infodemic Management Capacity Scale (HPsIMCS)

Abstract Background Validated instruments are limited in the literature to assess the infodemic management capacity of the healthcare professionals. This methodological study aimed to develop and validate a scale for measuring the infodemic management capacity of the healthcare professionals. Methods The study was conducted between September 2024 and April 2025 with a total of 495 healthcare professionals working at a university hospital in Ankara, Türkiye. The participants were divided into two groups for Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) (n = 250) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) (n = 245). Expert opinions were obtained to evaluate the content validity of the scale. Construct validity was assessed through EFA and CFA. Reliability was examined using Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega coefficients. The discriminatory power of the items was examined via corrected item-total correlations. Comparisons between the upper and lower 27% groups were conducted. The study was approved by the university's research ethics committee. Results Of the participants, 71.7% were female. Physicians comprised 65% of the sample, followed by nurses (23%) and other healthcare professionals (12%). EFA revealed a four-factor structure with 20 items, explaining 54% of the total variance. The factors were labeled as follows: Listening to the Community (3 items), Supporting Communication (5 items), Building Resilience (6 items), and Engaging and Empowering Communities (6 items). Both first- and second-order CFA supported this structure, indicating acceptable model fit. Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega coefficients for each factor exceeded .70 (range: .71-.92). All items demonstrated adequate discriminatory power, with corrected item-total correlations above .30. Additional analysis confirmed measurement invariance across genders. Conclusions The scale is an instrument that produces valid and reliable measures and that can be used to determine health professionals’ infodemic management capacity. Key messages • Assessing the infodemic management capacity of the health professionals is a need. • The scale provides valid and reliable measures, making it a valuable tool for assessing health professionals’ infodemic management capacity.