TITLE:
An Instrument for Perceiving Ethical Problems in Primary Healthcare: Psychometric Parameters and Ethical Components
AUTHORS:
Ana Maria de Oliveira, Valdiney Gouveia, Rui Nunes
KEYWORDS:
Bioethics, Psychometrics, Primary Care
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Clinical Medicine,
Vol.5 No.16,
August
25,
2014
ABSTRACT: Ethical issues in primary (health) care (PC) are common and are
confronted daily. In the scarce literature that was available, Zoboli and Silva
developed an instrument (IPE-APS) for perceiving ethical conflicts. Two
empirical ex post facto studies to gather psychometric evidence for the instrument
were outlined. In the first study, 88 nurses and physicians from Brazil’s
Family Health (Saúde da Família—SF) responded to the IPE-APS, and the results
confirmed its validity and accuracy. In total, 14 items were grouped in Factor
I (relationship/responsibility), which was described as having human rights and
deontological nature (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.92), and 11 items were grouped in
Factor II, which was described as having a labor structure nature (Cronbach’s alpha
= 0.90). In the second study, 207 SF professionals in Goiania, Goiás responded
to the IPE-APS. The results showed that Factor I had a high factorial
congruence index (0.98), which revealed high similarity and showed that the
instrument displayed practical validity to identify and assess ethical problem
perception in PC.