Development and Evaluation of Psychometric Properties Regarding the Whole Person Health Scale for Employees of Hospital to Emphasize the Importance of Health Awareness of the Workers in the Hospital

Healthcare (Basel). 2021 May 19;9(5):610. doi: 10.3390/healthcare9050610.

Abstract

(1) Background: Whole person health (WPH) is important among employees in hospitals. It will affect their performance and attitude toward patient care and organization. This project was designed to develop and assess the validity and reliability of utilizing the Whole Person Health Scale for Employees of a Hospital (WPHS-EH) to determine overall employee health. (2) Methods: A mixed-methods focus group and cross-sectional survey was adopted. Employees held six focus groups, with 62 employees from different departments in medical center in Taiwan. After analyzing the interview content, five experts tested its validity, and the 14-item WPHS-EH scale was analyzed. This was followed by an additional 900 participants questionnaire survey, response rate: 94.9%. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and items analysis were used. Additionally, the scale was implemented to conducted confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) test for validity. (3) Results: Three dimensions were extracted from the questionnaires by EFA: "hospital circumstance and system", "professional and interpersonal interaction" and "workload and harm". The Cronbach's alpha of the WPHS-EH scale was 0.82, while the three sub-dimensions were all significantly correlated with total scores. CFA confirmed the scale construct validity, with a good model fit. (4) Conclusions: The WPHS-EH is a reliable measurement tool to assess the effects of hospitals' Whole Person Health among employees. The intent of the WPHS-EH was to provide a reliable scale to analyze the work environment for hospital staff and useful information to healthcare administrators interested in improving the staff's whole person health.

Keywords: confirmatory factor analysis; exploratory factor analysis; focus group; whole person health.