Development and validation of a radiation protection attitude scale for operating room medical staff based on the ABC theory model.

OBJECTIVE

To develop a scale for assessing the cognitive attitudes of operating room medical staff (ORMS) towards radiation protection and to validate its reliability and validity.

METHODS

Using the ABC attitude theory as the framework, an initial item pool of 35 items was constructed through literature analysis and existing questionnaires. Subsequently, purposive sampling was employed to conduct semi-structured interviews with eight ORMS to refine the items. The research team and an expert panel conducted a focus group discussion on the items, followed by two rounds of expert evaluation using an expert consultation questionnaire, ultimately finalizing the scale dimensions and items. A convenience sampling method was used to select 405 ORMS for the formal survey. Data were collected to analyze their knowledge and attitudes regarding radiation protection followed by quality control.

RESULTS

The final scale comprised 29 items, covering three dimensions: cognition (11 items), affect (12 items), and behavioral intention (6 items). Regarding reliability, the overall Cronbach's α coefficient for the questionnaire was 0.972, with coefficients for the individual dimensions being 0.975 for cognition, 0.989 for affect, and 0.927 for behavioral intention. The overall split-half reliability was 0.786. In terms of validity, the item-level content validity index ranged from 0.800 to 1.000, and the scale-level content validity index was 0.85. Exploratory factor analysis extracted three common factors, with a cumulative variance contribution rate of 83.920%. Confirmatory factor analysis of the modified model showed acceptable fit to the present data (χ2/df = 2.865, CFI = 0.973, TLI = 0.961, RMSEA = 0.068).

CONCLUSION

The developed Radiation Protection Cognition and Attitude Scale for ORMS demonstrated good reliability and preliminary evidence of validity in the present sample. It can be used to assess their level of radiation protection knowledge and attitudes, providing a reference for developing targeted protective interventions and training programs.