Healthc Inform Res.  2016 Jul;22(3):206-216. 10.4258/hir.2016.22.3.206.

Revision of the Measurement Tool for Patients' Health Information Protection Awareness

• Song Y
• Lee M
• Jun Y
• Lee Y
• Cho J
• Kwon M
• Lim H

• KMID: 2357399
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4258/hir.2016.22.3.206

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
Despite the importance of the protection of patients' health information in clinical settings, little is known about the awareness of this concept in nursing students due to the lack of a suitable measurement tool. Hence, this study attempted to redevelop the Patients' Health Information Protection Awareness Scale, and evaluate its construct validity and reliability for nursing students.
METHODS
A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted. Nursing students who were in their 3rd and 4th year were recruited from 10 universities in Korea to assess the construct validity, and 30 experts (27 nurses and 3 faculty members) participated in the content validation process.
RESULTS
The content validity assessment indicated that 23 items were ideal. The assessment of construct validity using exploratory factor analysis revealed three factors: communication, management, and referrals. They together accounted for 54.1% of the variance in scale scores. The three-factor scale had good fit in the confirmatory factor analysis. Scale reliability was confirmed, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.94 for all items.
CONCLUSIONS
This study was the first attempt to redevelop the Patients' Health Information Protection Awareness Scale for student nurses. The 23-item scale was shown to be a reliable and valid tool. It facilitates the assessment of nursing students' awareness of patient information protection. Academic nursing programs and health organizations can use its scores to implement adequate education plans to safeguard information in nursing students.

Keyword

Health Information Management; Validation Studies; Nursing Students

MeSH Terms

Computer Security*
Education
Health Information Management
Humans
Korea
Nursing
Referral and Consultation
Reproducibility of Results
Students, Nursing

Figure

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  Figure 1 The Patients' Health Information Protection Awareness (PHIPA) construct using confirmatory factor analysis (italic value: squared multiple correlation, normal value: regression weight).

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