Development and Psychometric Testing of the Cultural Bias Scale for Health Professionals: A Methodological Study

Abstract

Introduction:

Cultural bias can negatively affect processes such as making the correct diagnosis, creating appropriate treatment plans, and ensuring patient satisfaction when providing health care services to individuals. This study aims to develop and conduct the psychometric evaluation of a reliable tool to measure the bias levels of health care professionals.

Method:

The scale was developed with a pilot study conducted on 50 nurses in Erzurum, Turkey. The scale initially consisted of 53 items, and data collection was performed on 720 participants.

Results:

The scale Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) value was found to be 0.861. The anti-image value for items was ≥0.5. Bartlett’s sphericity tests indicated suitability for factor analysis (χ² = 2,850.732, df = 210, p < .01). The variance explained by each subscale of the scale was 18.582%, 16.342%, and 14.507%, respectively.

Discussion:

Because health care professionals should take a holistic approach to patient care, the scale might be a useful a important instrument for evaluating the cultural biases of health care professionals.