Development and Psychometrics of a Dignity Assessment Questionnaire for Iranian Cancer Patients: A Mixed Exploratory Study

Abstract

Background: Respect for human dignity has been the focus of various studies on patients’ health and treatment. Despite the increasing number of cancer patients, to date, the dimensions of dignity have not been fully identified for this group. This study was conducted with the aim of the development and psychometrics evaluation of a dignity assessment questionnaire for Iranian cancer patients. Method: This mixed-method design with a sequential exploratory approach was conducted in Iran. In the first phase, a purposive sampling method was used to recruit the participants and the sampling continued until data saturation. The data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews. In the second phase, the validity and reliability of this instrument were assessed among 300 cancer patients. Results: The dignity assessment questionnaire for cancer patients included four domains and 27 items. The domains of the questionnaire were “the performance of the treatment team”, “respect for patients’ personal space”, “family support”, and “adequate equipment and facilities”. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and the split-half method. To confirm the stability, test-retest was utilized and the result of the interclass correlation coefficient for the entire questionnaire was 0.94. Conclusion: A dignity assessment questionnaire has been developed based on the perception and understanding of cancer patients, their family caregivers, and oncology nurses. The findings of the present study could help healthcare providers to implement a scheme with the aim of strengthening support for and better treatment and care of cancer patients.

Keywords

• cancer
• psychometrics
• dignity