Measures assessing attributes of evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) competence among nurses: a systematic review protocol

Abstract

BackgroundThere are growing professional expectations for nurses to engage in and develop competence in evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) due to opportunities for improved client and community outcomes and provision of the highest quality of care. However, EIDM is underdeveloped, with low implementation rates among nurses. The use of indicators to assess EIDM performance has potential to encourage nurses’ engagement in EIDM through competence recognition and support assessment of strengths and competency gaps for individual nurses and organizations. Currently, the state of evidence regarding measures that assess EIDM competence attributes (i.e., knowledge, skills, beliefs/values, behaviors) among nurses is unknown. This systematic review aims to address this gap through a narrative synthesis of the characteristics and psychometric properties of EIDM competence measures.MethodsThe search strategy, developed in consultation with a Health Sciences Librarian, consists of online databases, contacting experts, hand searching reference lists, key journals, websites, conference proceedings, and grey literature. Studies will be included if the following criteria are met: (1) sample includes practicing nurses and data for nurses are reported separately; (2) conducted in any healthcare setting; (3) quantitative or mixed-methods design; (4) reports use or testing of a measure assessing EIDM competence attributes (i.e., knowledge, skills, attitudes/values, and/or behaviors); and (5) published in English. Screening will be conducted independently by two reviewers using a two-stage process: (1) title and abstract level; and (2) full-text level. Data extraction of study characteristics (e.g., sample, setting) will be conducted by a single reviewer and checked for accuracy by a second reviewer. Psychometric properties of acceptability, reliability, and validity evidence for each measure will be independently extracted by two reviewers. Data on measures will be synthesized narratively according to acceptability, number of validity evidence sources established, and reliability of scores. Data pertaining to population and healthcare setting will also be reported for each measure.DiscussionThis systematic review will provide a current understanding about the state of evidence with respect to EIDM competence measures in nursing to assist in determining potentially relevant and robust measures for use in different nursing practice settings.Systematic review registrationProtocol registered in PROSPERO Registration #: CRD42018088754Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13643-018-0849-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Measures of evidence-informed decision-making competence attributes: a psychometric systematic review

“…The protocol for this systematic review was registered (PROSPERO #CRD42018088754), was published [27] a priori, and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline.…”

“…Quality assessment was not conducted due to limitations across varying and inconsistent criteria for appraising studies involving psychometric measures [27]. Instead, aligning with previous reviews [17,29], a thorough assessment of reliability and validity evidence for scores of measures was conducted to align with the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing [26].…”

“…Given that traditional quality assessment was not conducted, this may influence the confidence in study findings and thus results are to be interpreted with caution. However, among tools previously used to assess quality of psychometric studies, several limitations exist [27]. These include the development of quality assessment tools for use only with patient reported outcome measures [14], using a lowest score ranking method providing an imbalance in the overall quality score [161], and a lack of validity and reliability testing [27].…”

“…However, among tools previously used to assess quality of psychometric studies, several limitations exist [27]. These include the development of quality assessment tools for use only with patient reported outcome measures [14], using a lowest score ranking method providing an imbalance in the overall quality score [161], and a lack of validity and reliability testing [27]. Most importantly, existing quality assessment tools employ a traditional approach of assessing construct, content, and criterion validity, rather than a contemporary perspective of viewing validity evidence as a unified concept [26], as used to guide the current review.…”

“…The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of: Ms. Laura Banfield (Health Sciences Librarian) with the development of the search strategy; Ms. Donna Fitzpatrick-Lewis (Research Co-ordinator) and Ms. Sharon Peck-Reid (Research Assistant) from McMaster Evidence Review and Synthesis Team for their support with reference management and preparing for data synthesis; and Ms. Tiffany Dang (TD) for support with data extraction. The abstract for this manuscript was presented at the 10th Knowledge Translation Canada Annual Scientific Meeting [162].…”