The Hospital Safety Scale for Kids: Development of a new measurement tool for hospitalized children

Abstract

This study aimed to develop an instrument to assess the perception of hospital safety among hospitalized children for preschool age children. An initial 30 items of the preliminary Hospital Safety Scale for Kids (HSS-Kids) were generated based on literature reviews and focus-group interviews. The 30 items were developed as different types of hospital-based incidents, situation scenarios, and pictorial animation cards for describing them. The evaluation process was conducted with a sample of 150 hospitalized children and their caregivers. Construct, convergent, and discriminant validities were tested by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. For criterion validity, concurrent validity was confirmed, and reliability was established through Cronbach’s α coefficients. The final 15 HSS-Kids hospital scenario picture cards were categorized into four subdomains, falls, general injuries, burns, and medical devices, which explained 62.92% of the total variance. The HSS-Kids demonstrated construct, convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity, with Cronbach’s αs ranging from .649 to .792. The HSS-Kids is a promising instrument to screen children at high risk of incidents by capturing their perception on hospital safety.