Content Validation of the Dutch Version of the “Older Patients in Acute Care Survey”, an Instrument to Measure the Attitude of Hospital Nurses towards Older Patients

Aims and objectives: The aim of this study is to validate the “Older Patients in Acute Care Survey” (OPACS) in the Netherlands. Background: Worldwide the population of older people with multimorbidity increases which results in an increase of older hospitalized patients. Literature shows that nurses have a negative attitude towards older patients. To get insight and improve the attitude of nurses, a validated measurement instrument is needed. The OPACS measures hospital nurses' attitudes towards older patients and has proven good content validity in the USA and good face validity and reliability in Australia. Design: A cross-sectional study. Methods: First the OPACS was translated using forward-backward method and testing clarity of wording with a pilot. Second content validity was determined using “Method Lynn” and clarity of wording and appropriateness for measuring attitude were identified. Results: The OPACS showed acceptable content validity (CVI ≥ 0.78) for 14 items (out of 36) of Section A and 22 items (out of 50) of Section B. The content validity for the entire OPACS was (CVI = 0.62). 89.2% of the participants scored “clear in wording” and 75.6% of the participants qualified the OPACS appropriate for measuring attitude. Conclusions: The OPACS has good clarity of wording and good appropriateness for measuring attitude. The content validity is low which makes the current Dutch version not appropriate for measuring attitude of nurses in Dutch hospitals. Relevance to clinical practice: A measurement instrument to get insight in the attitude of nurses is a first step to improve a negative attitude. A positive attitude of nurses is important to provide good quality of care to the increasing population older people in hospitals. Working with reliable and validated scales is important. This study gives direction to make the OPACS suitable for the Dutch situation.