Validating the Measure of Processes of Care for Service Providers (MPOC-SP(A)) tool in adult intensive care units.

Background: The Measures of Process of Care for Service Providers (MPOC-SP(A)) tool, developed by the CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research in Canada, assesses service providers' perceptions of family-centred care (FCC) in adult rehabilitation. It consists of 27 items categorised into four domains: 'showing interpersonal sensitivity', 'providing general information', 'communicating specific information', and 'treating people respectfully'. Each domain encompasses a distinct aspect of family-centred care applicable in the intensive care unit (ICU). An earlier version of the tool was previously validated for use in neonatal ICUs. However, this tool has not been validated for use in adult ICUs.

Objectives: To validate the content validity index of the MPOC-SP(A) tool for healthcare professionals working in adult ICUs in South Africa.

Methods: Following approval from the Human Research Ethics Committee, a multidisciplinary group of experienced ICU healthcare professionals was invited to review the MPOC-SP(A) tool, rating each item's relevance on a four-point scale to avoid neutrality. The content validity index (CVI) was calculated for each item (I-CVI) and domain (S-CVI/Ave) using Microsoft Excel. An I-CVI of 0.83 and S-CVI/Ave of 0.9 were deemed acceptable. Items with a CVI below 0.83 were discarded.

Results: The scale-level CVI (S-CVI/Ave) for every domain was 0.9 and above, which is acceptable. Two items in domain A and one item in domain B were deleted owing to low I-CVI values. Two items were revised to improve the item's clarity. Thus, a 24-item MPOC-SP(A) tool applicable to adult ICUs was generated following the content validity analysis.

Conclusion: The content experts' assessment of the instrument's items is essential to ensure its validity. This study has finalised the content validation process of the MPOC-SP(A) tool for use in the adult ICU. The refined tool is now ready for the next phase of validation focusing on construct and internal consistency.

Contribution of the study: This study contributes to the field of research by providing robust evidence for the content validity of the MPOC-SP(A) tool in adult ICU settings, supporting its relevance, clarity, and comprehensiveness for measuring family-centred care practices. It also offers a framework for future validation studies in similar resource-limited healthcare contexts.