Development and validation of an instrument to examine wound management in hand therapy within the South African context.

Abstract

Background: Wound management is internationally recognised as part of hand therapy practice.  However, the role of occupational therapists in this area of upper limb rehabilitation in South Africa is unclear.

Aim: To develop and validate a survey to examine occupational therapists’ wound management practices in hand therapy within the South African context. 

Methods: A sequential exploratory mixed methods study design was utilised to develop a survey.  Thereafter, a panel of 11 occupational therapists with relevant experience in the field rated the relevance of survey items to produce item-content validity indices (I-CVIs).

Results: An initial survey containing 27 questions containing 214 items was presented for review.  Experts rated 171 items (69%) relevant with an I-CVI of 0.90-1.00.  A further 32 items (13%) were rated relevant with an ICVI of >0.80.  A total of 45 items (18%) were irrelevant with an ICVs < 0.80.  The final survey consisted of 19 questions containing 139 items, excluding those that obtained relevant demographic data. 

Conclusions: The survey demonstrated good content and face validity but is limited to use with occupational therapists in South Africa.  Validation for use with different populations in different settings is recommended.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE:

This article offers researchers within the field of occupational therapy methodology for the development and validation of a survey.  Suggestions for improving the overall validity of the surveyare given.  The survey may be used in future studies with occupational therapists providing hand injury care in South Africa.  The use of the survey with different populations requires validation using the intended target population.