Psychometric Analysis of the Emotional Tone Rating Scale: A Measure of Person-Centered Communication.

Psychometric analysis of the Emotional Tone Rating Scale (ETRS) was completed using ratings of naive listeners who evaluated staff-resident communication in three nursing homes. Interrater consistency was high with ICC (2, 1) for agreement = .95 and consistency = .95. Factor analysis revealed two factors-person-centered communication and controlling communication-that explained 84.8% of the variance. Person-centered communication included seven descriptors (items) with loadings ranging from .84 to .98 and a coefficient alpha of .98. Controlling communication included five items that loaded from -.63 to .99 with a coefficient alpha of .94. These factors were negatively correlated (p = -.64) and demonstrated good ranges, standard deviations, and high item-total correlations. Person-centered communication correlated with higher resident engagement in conversation in contrast to controlling communication. The ETRS provides a measure of person-centered communication that can be used to evaluate interactions between nursing staff and older adults who reside in long term care settings.