Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Patient Privacy Scale

Background — Protecting patient privacy is a key principle in relationships between healthcare professionals. A validated and reliable instrument for assessing patient privacy during surgical procedures in the operating room (OR) is lacking. Objective — The goal of this study is to develop a psychometric instrument for assessing patient privacy protection from the perspective of OR staff. Methods — This is a methodological study. Initially, items were developed based on qualitative research, a comprehensive literature review, and input from experts in the field of gerontology and questionnaire development. The validity and reliability of the developed instrument were then assessed using face validity, content validity, construct validity using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and reliability based on Cronbach’s alpha, and internal consistency coefficient. Results — A total of 27 items were generated. During development, 9 items were excluded, resulting in a preliminary version of the questionnaire containing 18 items that underwent psychometric evaluation. The content validity index (CVI) value for most items was above 0.9, and the content validity ratio (CVR) was above 0.79. Finally, the instrument, which included 18 items across four dimensions (physical, informational, psychological, and environmental), was examined using EFA. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for this instrument was 0.91. Conclusion — The developed Patient Privacy Questionnaire for Operating Room Staff has acceptable validity and reliability. This instrument can be used as a simple, convenient, valid, and reliable tool for assessing patient privacy protection from the perspective of OR staff.