Review of literature on instruments measuring health professionals' knowledges, attitudes, and perceptions of antimicrobial stewardship programs.

Abstract

Introduction: The establishment of multi-disciplinary antimicrobial stewardship programmes means that there is a need to study how well healthcare personnel are able to deal with the problem on a daily basis. This study therefore aimed to identify and critically examine existing tools to measure knowledge, attitudes and practices with respect to antimicrobial stewardship among physicians and nurses.

Methods: After a literature review of biomedical databases such as PUBMED, EMBASE, SCOPUS, CINAHL, a total of 14 instruments were identified between May and November 2021, the purpose, theoretical framework and statistical validity of which were analysed and described.

Results: The theoretical framework and validation process vary widely between instruments and are not described in all of them. The pilot study was not always conducted or well detailed. The questionnaires varied in length and were mostly answered on a 5-7 point Likert scale. The work of Baraka et al 2019 together with that of Ashiru-Oredope et al 2021 appear to be the best from the point of view of statistical validity. Baraka has the high number of questions.

Conclusion: The literature review and the use of already existing instruments, even by the same author, are the basis of all the identified studies even if the explanation with respect to the reason for this choice is missing. The validation process was not described for all instruments. When selecting and adapting instruments, attention should be paid to the domains within the scale, the number of items and the theoretical-cultural fit.