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 intraclass 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.