Perceptions of privacy by health care consumers: instrument development

Paucity of instruments to measure privacy prompted a methodological study for the development and testing of an instrument to elucidate privacy perception of a health care consumer. Concrete situations in every day life determine individual perception of privacy in terms of self-ego, environment and interpersonal relationships. Identification of consumers' perception of privacy in health care situations was theorized as a dimension of quality of nursing care. Subsequent to selection of a theory for the concept of privacy and literature review, a 43 item Privacy Questionnaire was developed. Content was validated by a panel of judges. Statistical analysis of test-retest scores from 113 subjects showed a Pearsonian coefficient of r = 0.744. Factor analysis of the pre-test scores identified 12 health care situations related to the theoretical framework of privacy. Identified health care situations were presented in a Privacy Semantic Differential (PSD) to another group of 157 subjects. Statistical analysis for reliability showed a Cronbach's alpha of 0.96 (standardized item alpha = 0.96) for 144 variables. Computation of alpha for 12 concepts yielded an alpha range of 0.844 (standardized item alpha = 0.839) to 0.938 (standardized item alpha = 0.938). Factor analysis demonstrated the relationship of the PSD to the theoretical framework. Implications of the PSD for determining a dimension of quality health care are cited. Recommendations for utilization of the PSD in health care settings for future research on quality of nursing care are suggested.