Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool: Adaptation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Spanish Version

Abstract

Background: A standardized tool, the Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool (DPET), originally published in English, is available for the purpose of assessing the level of disaster preparedness among nurses, however, a Spanish version is yet to be developed. The purpose of this study was twofold: first, to prepare a Spanish version of the DPET (DPET-SP), and secondly, to analyse the psychometric properties of the new Spanish version.

Methods: The target population comprised nurses in the region of Asturias, Spain. Cronbach's alpha (internal consistency) and item-total correlations (item discrimination) were used to test the reliability of the tool. Construct validity was tested using confirmatory factor analysis. The content validity of the Spanish version was estimated using the scale-level content validity index. The appropriateness of the factor analysis was tested using the Kaiser-Meyer-Ollin test. Sphericity of the correlation matrix was examined using Barlett's test. Principal component analysis (PCA) was utilized to categorise the measurement instrument into salient factors. Convergent validity was assessed using Average Variance Extracted (AVE).

Results: The PCA determined that the 45 items could be grouped into five factors Cronbach's alpha value was 0.964, the AVE values for the five constructs ranged from 0.51 to 0.71, the goodness-of-fit of the model structure was good, the convergence reliability values ranged from 0.80 to 0.95 and the square root of the AVE of each individual factor must be greater than all other correlations between pairs of constructs, so there is divergent validity.

Conclusions: The DPET-SP has adequate validity and reliability. Therefore, it can be utilised by nurses for whom Spanish is their first language.

Keywords: disaster nursing; disaster preparedness; psychometric properties.