Development and validation of a survey instrument to assess attitudes of healthcare professionals on using 2D bar-code technology; an extension o f toe Technical Acceptance Model

Abstract

Attached

User attitudes can help to identify practical issues related to using a technology. The aim of this study was to develop and validate an instrument to assess attitudes o f nursing and pharmacy staff on using 2D bar-code technology in dispensing and drug administration. The Technical Acceptance Model (TAM) was used as the basis for developing the instrument. New items were added to address areas more specific to 2D bar-code technology. All items were measured using a five-point Likert scale. The validity and psychometric properties of the instrument were assessed using responses front 46 health care professionals (30 nursing and 16 pharmacy staff). The resulting instrument contained 26 items. Factor analysis extracted 6 constructs that were not identical but generally conformed to the factors in the TAM. The six constructs measured 'attitudes of output and intention to use’, 'perceived usefulness’, ‘perceived ease of use’, ‘external influences’, ‘job relevance’ and ‘perceived adequacy of training'. The fee tor structure showed good construct validity. All correlations between hypothesised construct and item were above 0.4 after adjusting for overlap. The instrument showed good reliability with an overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.86 and overall intra-class correlation of 0,89, A valid and reliable instrument to measure attitudes of pharmacy and nursing staff on using 2D bar-code technology was developed as an extension of the TAM, This instrument may be used to assess user attitudes before implementing the 2D barcoding technology or for continuous improvement of the system