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A revised Swedish version of the Ward Atmosphere Scale: Usability and psychometrics.

Tuvesson, Hanna ; Wann-Hansson, Christine and Eklund, Mona LU orcid (2010) In Nordic Journal of Psychiatry Apr 7. p.303-309
Abstract
Background: The ward atmosphere of psychiatric care units has a major impact on treatment and satisfaction for both patients and staff. The Ward Atmosphere Scale (WAS) was developed to capture the ward atmosphere in different psychiatric settings and is a well-established instrument for this purpose. However, there is need for an update and revision of the WAS. Aim: The aim of the present study was to test a Swedish version of the revised WAS in terms of its internal consistency, content and construct validity, and usability. Methods: Data collection took place at four psychiatric wards and 31 patients and 34 staff completed the WAS, as well as content and construct validity questions. Results: Results showed that the WAS had acceptable to... (More)
Background: The ward atmosphere of psychiatric care units has a major impact on treatment and satisfaction for both patients and staff. The Ward Atmosphere Scale (WAS) was developed to capture the ward atmosphere in different psychiatric settings and is a well-established instrument for this purpose. However, there is need for an update and revision of the WAS. Aim: The aim of the present study was to test a Swedish version of the revised WAS in terms of its internal consistency, content and construct validity, and usability. Methods: Data collection took place at four psychiatric wards and 31 patients and 34 staff completed the WAS, as well as content and construct validity questions. Results: Results showed that the WAS had acceptable to satisfactory internal consistency for all subscales, except for autonomy. Low correlation values between the WAS and the Good Milieu Index were obtained, against which construct validity was discussed. Results of the content validity and usability questionnaires indicate that the WAS is easy to understand and complete, but some of the items were difficult for the respondents to understand and some of the subjects were missing aspects of the physical ward environment. Conclusions: The present study confirms that the Swedish version of the revised WAS can be useful for examining the ward atmosphere in psychiatric care. However, more studies are needed in order to further test the psychometric properties of the WAS and the results of the usability questionnaire may indicate a need to use supplementary instruments in order to capture the physical ward environment as well. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nordic Journal of Psychiatry
volume
Apr 7
pages
303 - 309
publisher
Informa Healthcare
external identifiers
  • wos:000282843400003
  • pmid:20199170
  • scopus:77956647037
  • pmid:20199170
ISSN
1502-4725
DOI
10.3109/08039480903524913
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Division of Occupational Therapy (Closed 2012) (013025000)
id
4c92f5a4-3df2-45c5-9127-f3f445b30bb5 (old id 1582604)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20199170?dopt=Abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 08:11:52
date last changed
2022-01-29 03:05:19
@article{4c92f5a4-3df2-45c5-9127-f3f445b30bb5,
  abstract     = {{Background: The ward atmosphere of psychiatric care units has a major impact on treatment and satisfaction for both patients and staff. The Ward Atmosphere Scale (WAS) was developed to capture the ward atmosphere in different psychiatric settings and is a well-established instrument for this purpose. However, there is need for an update and revision of the WAS. Aim: The aim of the present study was to test a Swedish version of the revised WAS in terms of its internal consistency, content and construct validity, and usability. Methods: Data collection took place at four psychiatric wards and 31 patients and 34 staff completed the WAS, as well as content and construct validity questions. Results: Results showed that the WAS had acceptable to satisfactory internal consistency for all subscales, except for autonomy. Low correlation values between the WAS and the Good Milieu Index were obtained, against which construct validity was discussed. Results of the content validity and usability questionnaires indicate that the WAS is easy to understand and complete, but some of the items were difficult for the respondents to understand and some of the subjects were missing aspects of the physical ward environment. Conclusions: The present study confirms that the Swedish version of the revised WAS can be useful for examining the ward atmosphere in psychiatric care. However, more studies are needed in order to further test the psychometric properties of the WAS and the results of the usability questionnaire may indicate a need to use supplementary instruments in order to capture the physical ward environment as well.}},
  author       = {{Tuvesson, Hanna and Wann-Hansson, Christine and Eklund, Mona}},
  issn         = {{1502-4725}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{303--309}},
  publisher    = {{Informa Healthcare}},
  series       = {{Nordic Journal of Psychiatry}},
  title        = {{A revised Swedish version of the Ward Atmosphere Scale: Usability and psychometrics.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/08039480903524913}},
  doi          = {{10.3109/08039480903524913}},
  volume       = {{Apr 7}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}