title: Validation of the safety attitudes questionnaire (short form 2006) in Italian in hospitals in the northeast of Italy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Studying safety attitudes of front-line workers can help hospital managers take initiatives to improve patient safety. The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire, a psychometric tool that measures safety attitudes in health facilities, has been used and validated in several languages worldwide but there is no Italian version available. Hence, the study is aimed at cross-culturally validating the questionnaire (short form 2006) in Italian at two hospitals in the Veneto region (northeastern Italy).
  
  
  METHODS
  The translation and linguistic adaptation process of the questionnaire followed the World Health Organization guidelines. The questionnaire was delivered to staff working in four departments in two hospitals. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the content validity of a pre-specified factor model that recognizes seven safety factors of the SAQ. Retest was performed to assess reliability. Internal consistency of items and safety factors was evaluated via Cronbach's alpha.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Response rate was 60 % (n = 261/433). Test-retest correlation between items and factors showed a high degree of agreement. Goodness-of-fit indices demonstrated an acceptable hypothesis model with seven safety factors. Cronbach's alpha of a whole questionnaire was 0.85, demonstrating a good internal consistency. Polychoric correlations showed that the factors are well correlated with each other. Stress recognition was found to have negative correlation with other safety factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire in Italian language has satisfactory psychometric characteristics and is a valid instrument to measure safety culture in Italian hospitals.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, Verona, 37134, Italy. giang.nguyen@univr.it.
authors.forename: Giang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: New hospitals LTD, Tbilisi, Georgia. nikoloz.ge@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nikoloz
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gambashidze
authors.affiliation: Ruby Med Plus, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. drshoeb_2k@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Shoeb Ahmed
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ilyas
authors.affiliation: Girolamo Fracastoro hospital, San Bonifacio, Verona, Italy. dpascu@ulss20.verona.it.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pascu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D061214:Patient Safety; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires