Development and preliminary evaluation of the validity and reliability of a revised illness perception questionnaire for healthcare professionals. Issue 1 (December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Arat, Seher; Van den Zegel, Anke; Van Rillaer, Maity; Moons, Philip; Vandenberghe, Joris; De Langhe, Ellen; Westhovens, René
• Is Part Of: BMC nursing. Volume 15:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 9
• Publication Date: 2016-12
• Subjects: Validity -- Reliability -- Illness perceptions -- Healthcare professionals -- IPQ-R HP -- Physical disease; Nursing -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Nursing -- Study and teaching -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 610.7305
• DOI: 10.1186/s12912-016-0156-4
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1472-6955

Abstract

Abstract Background Diverging perceptions between individual patients with somatic diseases and their healthcare professionals might cause problems in communication and decision-making. To date, no measurement tool is available to compare the illness perceptions between these two groups. The Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) is a validated, widely used instrument in many patient populations with somatic conditions. The aim of this study was to adapt the IPQ-R to a healthcare professional's version (IPQ-R HP) and to perform a preliminary evaluation of its validity and reliability. Methods After adaptation of the IPQ-R HP, 17 doctors from 3 general hospitals and 9 head nurses from a university hospital evaluated the face and content validity of the IPQ-R HP. The results were quantified using the content validity index (CVI) and a modified kappa index (k*). For the reliability measurements a group of nurses from 4 nursing wards participated at 2 time points with an interval of 4 weeks. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were calculated. Results Twenty-eight of the 38 items demonstrated excellent content validity and four items showed good content validity. Four items had a sufficient k* and two items had a low CVI. The average CVI of the 7 dimensions ranged from 0.66 to 0.89. The Cronbach's alpha scores for the seven dimensions, intraclass coefficients and effect size estimates were acceptable. Conclusions This preliminary evaluation of the IPQ-R HP shows an acceptable to good validity and reliability. Further exploration of the psychometric properties of this questionnaire in a large cohort of healthcare professionals is warranted.