Development and Evaluation of Psychometric Properties of the Humanized Care Behaviors in Health Personnel Scale

Interventions to reduce the stigma of health care personnel toward people with mental disorders have been generally evaluated fundamentally by improving attitudes and reducing the desire for a social distance toward this population. However, decreasing stigma should be accompanied by an increase in good treatment behaviors toward those affected. Humanization of care, which is understood as a friendly, respectful, and supportive relationship, could be an excellent way to evaluate the effectiveness of antistigma interventions. This requires reliable and valid instruments. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the humanized care behavior scale used in health care personnel. The study was quantitative and cross-sectional. The participants were a nonrandom sample of 217 health providers from 12 family health centers in Gran Concepcion, Chile. An exploratory factorial analysis was applied to study the factorial structure, and Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's total omega coefficients were used to evaluate the internal consistency. The concurrent validity was assessed through a correlational analysis with three other scales. Regarding the results, the final scale comprised 16 items in two factors. There was an acceptable correlation between the two dimensions. The reliability indices for the total scale were high. Correlations between the total scale and its factors with the other scales used were in the expected direction. Consequently, the instrument developed is valid and reliable. It can be used to evaluate antistigma interventions and improve health personnel's humanization of care toward consultants with mental disorders.