title: Developing information technology attitude scales for health (ITASH).
abstract: This paper reports on the ongoing development and testing of a set of scales designed to elicit the attitudes of United Kingdom healthcare staff towards Information Technology. The scales were developed in the light of existing literature. Testing included a test-retest completion by over 100 staff from various disciplines in three National Health Service Trusts and a comparison with an existing scale. Exploratory principal components factor analysis identified three components, with a loading of > 3.1. This pattern of item grouping could be understood and interpreted as representing 'efficiency of care', 'education, training and development' and 'control'. The three scales comprise the Information Technology Attitude Scales for Health (ITASH). The results suggest that the developed scales together comprise a measure that can be used to establish staff attitudes towards IT use in the healthcare sector. Those undertaking research in this area might consider employing the scales to measure the factors that influence attitudes towards IT. Additionally, employers might usefully draw on the scales as they aim to support staff in IT use and embed IT systems within the healthcare workplace.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Social Care, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: Rod
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pollard
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Glogowska
authors.forename: Pam
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Moule
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom