Design of an instrument to measure humor in health professionals

Abstract

Aim: The objective of this study was to develop an instrument for measuring humor in health professionals.

Methods: Observational, transversal and descriptive study of mixed methodology. The instrument was designed in several phases: literature review, item generation, determination of the scale format, review by the expert panel, pilot study, reevaluation by the expert panel, and test-retest. The pertinence, relevance and comprehension of the items were analyzed. Interobserver agreement was calculated with Kappa and the intraclass correlation coefficient considering values ≥0.61. Pared sample Student's t test and Pearson's correlation coefficient were used. A level of statistical significance was established at P < 0.05.

Results: The Three-Dimensional Scale of Humor in Health Professionals consists of 50 items measured with a 5-point Likert scale based on the degree of agreement. Experts' panel evaluated the global scale with 3.57 (0.79) points out of 5. An interobserver reliability of 0.69 (P < 0.001) was obtained in the pilot study. A Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.71 (P = 0.002) and an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.69 (P = 0.001) resulted in the test-retest. No statistically significant differences were observed between test-retest scores.

Conclusion: The Three-Dimensional Scale of Humor in Health Professionals is an innovative tool for measuring humor in the health context. This scale is created specifically for health professionals. It's necessary its validation in future studies.

Keywords: Cuestionario; Enfermería; Health profesional; Humor; Nursing; Profesionales sanitarios; Questionnarie.