An Application of Item Response Theory to Scoring Patient Safety Culture Survey Data

Heon-Jae Jeong, Hsun-Hsiang Liao, Su Ha Han and Wui-Chiang Lee
Additional contact information
Heon-Jae Jeong: The Care Quality Research Group, 174 Toegye, Chuncheon, Gangwon 24450, Korea
Hsun-Hsiang Liao: Joint Commission of Taiwan, No. 31, Sec. 2, Sanmin Rd., Banqiao Dist., New Taipei City 220, Taiwan
Su Ha Han: Department of Nursing, Soon Chun Hyang University, 31 Soon Chun Hyang 6-gil, Dongnam-gu, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do 31151, Korea
Wui-Chiang Lee: Department of Medical Affairs and Planning, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shipai Rd., Beitou Dist., Taipei City 112, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 3, 1-10

Abstract: Patient safety culture is important in preventing medical errors. Thus, many instruments have been developed to measure it. Yet, few studies focus on the data processing step. This study, by analyzing the Chinese version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire dataset that contained 37,163 questionnaires collected in Taiwan, found critical issues related to the currently used mean scoring method: The instrument, like other popular ones, uses a 5-point Likert scale, and because it is an ordinal scale, the mean scores cannot be calculated. Instead, Item Response Theory (IRT) was applied. The construct validity was satisfactory and the item properties of the instrument were estimated from confirmatory factor analysis. The IRT-based domain scores and mean domain scores of each respondent were estimated and compared. As for resolution, the mean approach yielded only around 20 unique values on a 0 to 100 scale for each domain; the IRT method yielded at least 440 unique values. Meanwhile, IRT scores ranged widely at each unique mean score, meaning that the precision of the mean approach was less reliable. The theoretical soundness and empirical strength of IRT suggest that healthcare institutions should adopt IRT as a new scoring method, which is the core step of processing collected data.

Keywords: item response theory; patient safety; questionnaire; safety culture; survey; teamwork (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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