title: Validation of a novel safety climate instrument in VHA nursing homes.
abstract: Improvements in nursing home safety climate could lead to enhanced resident safety. Yet safety climate has been little studied in the nursing home setting, and existing safety climate instruments have significant limitations. To investigate safety climate in Veterans Health Affairs nursing homes (Community Living Centers [CLCs]), this study had two objectives: (a) to develop a resident safety climate instrument for use in CLCs and (b) to assess this instrument's psychometric properties by administering it in a sample of CLCs. Using a standard conceptual framework, the CLC Employee Survey of Attitudes about Resident Safety was developed with the aid of an expert panel and multiple rounds of cognitive interviews. It was subsequently pilot tested in a sample of CLC employees. After refinement based on the pilot results, it was administered in a sample of five CLCs, where it was found to have adequate reliability and validity.
authors: 1Center for Health Quality, Outcomes and Economic Research, A VA Center of Excellence, Bedford, MA 01730, USA. christine.hartmann@va.gov
authors: Christine W
authors: CW
authors: Hartmann
authors: Mark
authors: M
authors: Meterko
authors: Shibei
authors: S
authors: Zhao
authors: Jennifer A
authors: JA
authors: Palmer
authors: Dan
authors: D
authors: Berlowitz
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009735:Nursing Homes; D061214:Patient Safety; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs; D058014:Veterans Health
keywords: health care surveys; nursing homes; patient safety; questionnaires; reproducibility of results