Psychometric properties of the Management of Aggression and Violence Attitude Scale in Hong Kong's emergency care setting

•Providing a reliable and valid assessment tool for assessing both nurses and patients' views on violence behavior.•Providing a strategic management in emergency units.•Providing useful information in developing effective strategies and training programs in management of aggression.

BackgroundEmergency unit is one of the most high-risk areas for patient violence. However, in Hong Kong, little research has been test psychometric properties of assessment tool of Emergency unit nurses' attitude toward violence.MethodsThe Management of Aggression and Violence Attitude Scale's (MAVASs) Scale- and Item-Content Validity Index were established by 5-experts panel. A convenience sample of 123 nurses working in 4 public Emergency Department in Hong Kong was recruited. The construct validity was tested using exploratory factor analysis and the reliability was assessed by Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability.ResultsThe Scale-Content Validity Index was 97.0% and the Item-Content Validity Indexes ranged from 80.0% to 100.0%. Exploratory factor analysis indicated 4-factors solution (i.e., “importance of communication with patients”, “perceived effectiveness of interventions”, “pitfalls of interventions” and “perceived need for intervention”). Its' internal consistency was satisfactory (Cronbach's alphas = 0.40-0.77) across the 4 subscales and test-retest reliability over 4-week interval was satisfactory (Pearson's coefficient = 0.85).ConclusionMAVAS was found to be a valid and reliable tool to examine nurses' attitudes towards patients' violence in emergency care setting, and provides useful information to those developing training and intervention programmes for management of aggression.