Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of the Person-centred Climate Questionnaire - Staff version (PCQ-S)

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a Chinese translation of the English version of the Person-centred Climate Questionnaire - Staff version (PCQ-S) for Chinese palliative care staff in a hospital context. Design: This was a cross-sectional design. The 14-item English PCQ-S was translated and backtranslated using established procedures. Construct validity and reliability including internal consistency and test-retest reliability were assessed among hospital staff. Construct validity was tested using principal component analysis (PCA), internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, and test-retest reliability was evaluated with the weighted kappa (Kp), Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Setting: This study was conducted in three hospitals in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in south-west China. Participants: A sample of hospital staff (n=163) on duty in the palliative care departments of three hospitals in Kunming consented to participate in the study. Results: The 14-item Chinese PCQ-S consists of the three subscales also present in other language versions. It showed strong internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.94 for the total scale, 0.87 for the safety subscale, 0.90 for the everydayness subscale and 0.88 for the community subscale. The Chinese PCQ-S had high test-retest reliability as evidenced by a high Kp coefficient and a high correlation coefficient for all scales between test and retest scores, on 'a climate of safety' (Kp=0.77, r=0.88, p<0.01), 'a climate of everydayness' (Kp=0.82, r=0.91, p<0.01), 'a climate of community' (Kp=0.75, r=0.79, p<0.01), and on overall scale scores (Kp=0.85, r=0.93, p<0.01). The ICC to evaluate the test-retest reliability was 0.97 (95% CI 0.95 to 0.98). Conclusions: The Chinese version of the PCQ-S showed satisfactory reliability and validity for assessing staff perceptions of person-centred care in Chinese hospital environments.