Research Unit of Health Sciences and Technology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Research Unit of Health Sciences and Technology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; Medical Research Center Oulu, Wellbeing Services County of North Ostrobothnia, Oulu, Finland.
Int J Med Inform. 2023 Mar;171:104995. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.104995. Epub 2023 Jan 18.
Healthcare professionals' digital health competence is an important phenomenon to study as healthcare practices are changing globally. Recent research aimed to define this complex phenomenon and identify the current state of healthcare professionals' competence in digitalisation but did not include an overarching outlook when measuring digital health competence of healthcare professionals.
The purpose of this study was to develop and psychometrically validate two self-assessed instruments measuring digital health competence and factors associating with it.
The study followed three phases of instrument development and validation: 1) conceptualisation and item pool generation; 2) content validity testing and pilot study; and 3) construct validity and reliability testing. The conceptual background of the instruments was based on individual interviews conducted with healthcare professionals (n = 20) and previous systematic reviews. A total of 17 experts assessed the instrument's content validity. Face validity was evaluated by a group of healthcare professionals (n = 20). Data collection from 817 professionals took place in spring-summer 2022 in nine organisations. Construct validity was confirmed with exploratory factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha was used to assess the internal consistency of the instruments.
The instrument development and validation process resulted in two instruments: DigiHealthCom and DigiComInf. DigiHealthCom included 42 items in 5 factors related to digital health competence, and DigiComInf included 15 items in 3 factors related to educational and organisational factors associated with digital health competence. The DigiHealthCom instrument explained 68.9 % of the total variance and the factors' Cronbach alpha values varied between 0.91 and 0.97. The DigiComInf instrument explained 59.6 % of the total variance and the factors' Cronbach alpha values varied between 0.76 and 0.88.
The two instruments gave valid and reliable results in psychometric testing. The instruments could be used to evaluate healthcare professionals' digital health competence and associated factors.
随着全球医疗实践的变化，医疗保健专业人员的数字健康能力是一个重要的研究现象。最近的研究旨在定义这一复杂现象，并确定医疗保健专业人员在数字化方面的能力现状，但在衡量医疗保健专业人员的数字健康能力时没有包括一个总体展望。
本研究旨在开发和心理测量验证两个自我评估工具，用于衡量数字健康能力及其相关因素。
该研究遵循了工具开发和验证的三个阶段：1）概念化和项目池生成；2）内容有效性测试和试点研究；3）构念有效性和可靠性测试。该工具的概念背景基于对医疗保健专业人员（n=20）进行的个人访谈和先前的系统评价。共有 17 名专家评估了仪器的内容有效性。通过一组医疗保健专业人员（n=20）评估了仪器的表面有效性。2022 年春夏在九个组织中收集了 817 名专业人员的数据。使用探索性因素分析验证了构念有效性。使用克朗巴赫的阿尔法来评估工具的内部一致性。
仪器的开发和验证过程产生了两个工具：DigiHealthCom 和 DigiComInf。DigiHealthCom 包括与数字健康能力相关的 5 个因素的 42 个项目，DigiComInf 包括与数字健康能力相关的 3 个因素的 15 个项目，包括教育和组织因素。DigiHealthCom 仪器解释了总方差的 68.9%，各因素的克朗巴赫阿尔法值在 0.91 到 0.97 之间。DigiComInf 仪器解释了总方差的 59.6%，各因素的克朗巴赫阿尔法值在 0.76 到 0.88 之间。
这两个工具在心理测量测试中都得到了有效和可靠的结果。这些工具可用于评估医疗保健专业人员的数字健康能力及其相关因素。
