Instruments that measure nurses' knowledge about diabetes: an integrative review.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Diabetes mellitus is an increasingly prevalent disease among hospitalized patients. Educators are challenged to build evidence-based programs for nurses based on sound nursing needs assessments using valid and reliable measures. The purpose of this integrative review is to examine instruments that measure nurses' knowledge about diabetes.

METHODS

The Databases PubMed (MEDLINE), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched for articles published between 1983 and 2012 using the keywords: diabetes knowledge; diabetes mellitus; diabetes self-management, nurse, and nursing knowledge. Fifteen articles reflecting the psychometric properties of 7 published instruments were reviewed.

RESULTS

The most commonly used instruments are the Diabetes Basic Knowledge Test (DBKT) and Diabetes Self-Report Test (DSRT). Several replication studies using the DBKT and DSRT did not consistently report reliability and validity measures. Five additional investigator-developed tools also lack strong validity and reliability measures.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest the need for continued development and psychometric testing of instruments to measure nurses' knowledge about diabetes.