Factors influencing adherence to standard precautions scale: A psychometric validation

Despite the mandated use of standard precaution guidelines to limit infection transmission in health-care settings, adherence by health-care professionals is suboptimal. There is currently no psychometrically-validated scale to assess influences on workers' adherence. After the data collection was conducted, Minichov et al. (2016) published a questionnaire to determine sociocognitive determinants of adherence to Standard Precautions. The aim of the present study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of such a scale. Forty nine items were derived from interviews with 29 nurses and tested across two studies. Study 1 was a repeated-measures survey using principal components analysis with data from 363 participants; a 29 item, five factor solution was extracted with good to acceptable internal reliabilities (α =.61–.85). Data from 122 of the original participants retested at 4 weeks showed intraclass correlations of.69–.84. Study 2, which was 6 months later, used confirmatory factor analysis with data from a second sample of 384 participants, and supported the five factor structure of leadership, justification, culture/practice, contextual cues, and judgement. The Factors Influencing Adherence to Standard Precautions Scale has good psychometric properties and stability across time and samples. The scale is suitable for use with nurses, and its validation with other health-care professionals and trainees is important in order to tailor effective interventions to promote adherence.