Development and psychometric evaluation of a questionnaire for measuring distraction due to mobile phone use in operating rooms

Abstract

Aim: Use of mobile phones in health care centres can distract care providers and consequently disrupt the care procedure and risk patient safety. This study aims to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a questionnaire for measuring distraction caused by mobile phone use in operating rooms.

Sample and setting: 208 operating room nurses and doctors from five hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences participated in the study.

Method: This methodological study was conducted in two stages. In stage one, through a review of relevant texts, articles and books, the different dimensions of distraction as caused by mobile phone use were determined, and the items of the questionnaire were developed after several meetings with experts. In stage two the researchers used the two tests of content and face validity to determine the validity and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) and stability (test-retest) to evaluate the reliability. Also, the construct validity of the instrument was determined using exploratory factor analysis.

Results: In the first stage of the study, distraction due to mobile phone use was defined and 29 items on a five-point Likert scale were developed. In the second stage, after face and content validity assessments, 17 items remained. Evaluations of the reliability of the questionnaire using internal consistency and test-retest reliability yielded a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.743. The Spearman–Brown correlation coefficient of the instrument was found to be 0.994. The construct validity of the instrument was examined through factor analysis.

Conclusion: The findings show that the developed instrument has enough validity and reliability to measure distraction due to mobile phone use in operating rooms.