Radiation Protection Capability of Operating Room Personnel: Development and Psychometric Properties of a Questionnaire

Abstract

Background: Radiation protection is an important principle in some wards of the hospital such as radiology, catheterization laboratory and operating room. Due to the increasing use of radiation in the operating room, there is a need to design an accurate and appropriate tool to evaluate the radiation protection capability of operating room personnel. Objective: This study aims to test the psychometric properties of a questionnaire on radiation protection capability.Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in two stages. The first stage was designing items based on the review of available literature, and the second stage was measuring the validity and reliability of the questionnaire using face validity and content validity Content Validity Index (CVI) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR). Then the questionnaire was filled out by 200 operating room nurses to evaluate the construct validity by Principal Component Analysis method. Reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated by test–retest and Cronbach’s alpha analysis method. Results: Due to the results, test–retest correlation coefficient was 0.912, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.824, indicating a desirable internal consistency. Conclusion: This study introduces a valid and reliable questionnaire for evaluating the radiation protection capability of operating room nurses.

Keywords

• radiation protection, questionnaire
• operating room nursing, psychometrics, ionizing radiation, operating theatre