Background: High-quality instruments are essential for implementation practitioners and researcher; only valid and reliable measures can confidently and consistently measure what they are intended to measure. Psychometrically sound and pragmatic measures have the potential to guide the tailoring and evaluation of an implementation program thus contributing to the knowledge base of implementation science. The Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS) is one of few implementation instruments with strong psychometric qualities and is widely used to measure attitudes toward Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in implementation practice and research. The Multidimensionality of the EBPAS has repeatedly been supported. Whether all of the fifteen individual items contribute to the EBPAS total scale beyond their subscales (Appeal, Requirements, Openness and Divergence) has yet to be proven. In addition, the Divergence subscale has been questioned because of low correlation with the other subscales and low inter-item correlations. Methods: The factor structure of the EBPAS was investigated in a child- and adolescent psychiatry setting (N=925, 62%, n =570) using first- and second-order Confirmatory factor analysis, thus replicating Aarons' initial studies. In addition, the present study is the first to use a bifactor model in a large and representative sample. Results: The EBPAS was supported as a multifaceted instrument. The EBPAS had a rather strong general factor supporting the use of the inventory as a single measure of attitudes. There were still four dimensions of attitude after the general factor was accounted for. All items, including the items of the Divergence factor, contributed to general attitude as well as to their specific construct. Conclusions: The present study is the first to show that it is justified to use and interpret the EBPAS as an instrument measuring global as well as specific attitudes toward EBP. Sum score and subscales scores can be used in implementation research and practice.

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Posted 06 Jul, 2019
Posted 06 Jul, 2019
Background: High-quality instruments are essential for implementation practitioners and researcher; only valid and reliable measures can confidently and consistently measure what they are intended to measure. Psychometrically sound and pragmatic measures have the potential to guide the tailoring and evaluation of an implementation program thus contributing to the knowledge base of implementation science. The Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS) is one of few implementation instruments with strong psychometric qualities and is widely used to measure attitudes toward Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in implementation practice and research. The Multidimensionality of the EBPAS has repeatedly been supported. Whether all of the fifteen individual items contribute to the EBPAS total scale beyond their subscales (Appeal, Requirements, Openness and Divergence) has yet to be proven. In addition, the Divergence subscale has been questioned because of low correlation with the other subscales and low inter-item correlations. Methods: The factor structure of the EBPAS was investigated in a child- and adolescent psychiatry setting (N=925, 62%, n =570) using first- and second-order Confirmatory factor analysis, thus replicating Aarons' initial studies. In addition, the present study is the first to use a bifactor model in a large and representative sample. Results: The EBPAS was supported as a multifaceted instrument. The EBPAS had a rather strong general factor supporting the use of the inventory as a single measure of attitudes. There were still four dimensions of attitude after the general factor was accounted for. All items, including the items of the Divergence factor, contributed to general attitude as well as to their specific construct. Conclusions: The present study is the first to show that it is justified to use and interpret the EBPAS as an instrument measuring global as well as specific attitudes toward EBP. Sum score and subscales scores can be used in implementation research and practice.

Figure 1

Figure 2
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
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