title: Predicting implementation from organizational readiness for change: a study protocol.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is widespread interest in measuring organizational readiness to implement evidence-based practices in clinical care. However, there are a number of challenges to validating organizational measures, including inferential bias arising from the halo effect and method bias - two threats to validity that, while well-documented by organizational scholars, are often ignored in health services research. We describe a protocol to comprehensively assess the psychometric properties of a previously developed survey, the Organizational Readiness to Change Assessment.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our objective is to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the psychometric properties of the Organizational Readiness to Change Assessment incorporating methods specifically to address threats from halo effect and method bias.
  
  
  METHODS
  We will conduct three sets of analyses using longitudinal, secondary data from four partner projects, each testing interventions to improve the implementation of an evidence-based clinical practice. Partner projects field the Organizational Readiness to Change Assessment at baseline (n = 208 respondents; 53 facilities), and prospectively assesses the degree to which the evidence-based practice is implemented. We will conduct predictive and concurrent validities using hierarchical linear modeling and multivariate regression, respectively. For predictive validity, the outcome is the change from baseline to follow-up in the use of the evidence-based practice. We will use intra-class correlations derived from hierarchical linear models to assess inter-rater reliability. Two partner projects will also field measures of job satisfaction for convergent and discriminant validity analyses, and will field Organizational Readiness to Change Assessment measures at follow-up for concurrent validity (n = 158 respondents; 33 facilities). Convergent and discriminant validities will test associations between organizational readiness and different aspects of job satisfaction: satisfaction with leadership, which should be highly correlated with readiness, versus satisfaction with salary, which should be less correlated with readiness. Content validity will be assessed using an expert panel and modified Delphi technique.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We propose a comprehensive protocol for validating a survey instrument for assessing organizational readiness to change that specifically addresses key threats of bias related to halo effect, method bias and questions of construct validity that often go unexplored in research using measures of organizational constructs.
authors.affiliation: Northwest Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence, VA Puget Sound Healthcare System, Seattle, Washington, USA. christian.helfrich@va.gov
authors.forename: Christian D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Helfrich
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Blevins
authors.forename: Jeffrey L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: P Adam
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Timothy P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Hogan
authors.forename: Hildi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hagedorn
authors.forename: Patricia M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Dubbert
authors.forename: Anne E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Sales
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice / Q000379:methods; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D016730:Program Development; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results