Cross-cultural validation and psychometric testing of the Swedish version of the microsocial section of the Attitudes toward Patient Advocacy Scale

Abstract

Rationale, aims and objectives: Patient advocacy can be defined as a process for maintaining and monitoring patients’ rights, values and best interests. To measure attitudes toward patient advocacy, Bu and Wu (2008) developed the Attitudes toward Patient Advocacy Scale (APAS), which required further testing and refining in different contexts. This two-phased study aimed to: (1) translate and cross-culturally validate the APAS section for microsocial patient advocacy (AMIA) in accordance with the Swedish context and (2) test the instrument’s psychometric properties in the community care of older patients.Methods and results: The first phase consisted of back-translation and cultural validation of the APAS-AMIA in accordance with the Swedish context and resulted in a 39-item Swedish version of the APAS-AMIA. In the second phase, data were collected using the 39-item APAS-AMIA in 2009 from a sample of 230 registered nurses and nurse managers covering 16 communities. Subsequently, psychometric testing was conducted with exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis in a final sample of 201 RNs. The exploratory factor analysis revealed a 4-factor structure, explaining 52.1% of the total scale variance in a 33-item instrument called the APAS-AMIA/SE. The Cronbach’s alpha for the APAS-AMIA/SE was 0.92 and varied between 0.82 and 0.88 for the factors.Conclusion: When the APAS-AMIA/SE semantic and conceptual equivalence to the APAS-AMIA, its distinct factor structure, internal consistency values and theoretical attachment are all added together, the conclusion is that the APAS-AMIA/SE is an acceptably reliable and valid instrument.