Measuring trust in healthcare with instruments developed in different disciplines – A scoping review

Abstract

Background Trust is a key character at organizational level. Understanding the level of trust with timely relevant instrument is a significant process to capture the level of trust beyond organizational changes in healthcare. Objectives To gather, assess, and synthesize the items of instruments evaluating trust in healthcare organizations. Design Scoping review methodology. Methods The literature search with deductive-inductive content analysis. The data were charted from articles that involved the use of trust instruments in healthcare organizations. Data Sources Search from eight databases was updated in January 2024 and included peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2023. Results A total of 13 instruments were found measuring trust in the organization, trust in the leader, and trust among peers in healthcare. The items of instruments about trust in the organization included strategic and operational cultures. The trust in the leader consisted of competence, consistency, openness, appreciative acceptance, and loyalty and risk, while instruments about trust among peers included dimensions of moral partnership, common interest, and competent peers. Conclusions Comprehensively measuring trust in the leader, trust in the organization, and trust among peers is significant due to the multifaceted dimension of trust. Measuring trust offers a possibility to recognize the working relationships and cultures in healthcare organizations.