Development and psychometric properties of an instrument to evaluate missed nursing care in home care: A validation study

• Published in: Public health Nursing 2024-11, Vol.41 (6), p.1633-1642
• Main Authors: Di Nitto, Marco, Zaghini, Francesco, Caponnetto, Valeria, Ferraiuolo, Fabio, Napolitano, Francesca, Alvaro, Rosaria, Lancia, Loreto, Manara, Duilio Fiorenzo, Rasero, Laura, Rocco, Gennaro, Mazzoleni, Beatrice, Sasso, Loredana, Bagnasco, Annamaria
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; AIDOMUS‐IT; Chi-square test; Cross-Sectional Studies; Design standards; Female; home care; Home Care Services - standards; Humans; instrument; Italy; Male; Measuring instruments; Medical errors; Middle Aged; missed nursing care; Nursing; Nursing care; Nursing Care - standards; Psychometrics - instrumentation; Reproducibility of Results; Statistical tests; Surveys and Questionnaires; validation
• ISSN: 0737-1209; 1525-1446; 1525-1446
• DOI: 10.1111/phn.13414

Objective To develop and validate a questionnaire to evaluate missed nursing care (MNC) in a home care setting. Design A new instrument was developed and tested performing a preliminary analysis of a multicenter cross‐sectional study in Italy. Reporting was performed according to COnsensus‐based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) guidelines. Sample Eight hundred out of a total of 2549 home care nurses enrolled in AIDOMUS‐IT were considered for the validation of the Missed Nursing Care in Home Care (MNC_HC). Measurements The MNC_HC instrument was developed by a panel of experts and underwent content and face validation. Exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted. Results EFA revealed a one‐factor solution, explaining 56% of the total variance for MNC_HC. CFA confirmed excellent structural validity, with a one‐factor model showing an exceptional fit (χ2 (27) = 141.39, p  0.5). MNC_HC also demonstrated high reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.92). The activity with the highest rate of missed care was the documentation of nursing care (77%), while activities related to nursing techniques (e.g., injections, dressings, etc.) were reported to be missed less (33.63%). Conclusions MNC_HC is a quick‐filling, valid, reliable, and psychometrically sound instrument for measuring MNC in home care useful for future research.