Validity and reliability of the Korean version of the observable indicators of nursing home care quality evaluation instrument

Purpose: The purposes of this study were; 1) to test the validity and reliability of the Korean version of Rantz's Observable Indicators of Nursing Home Care Quality Instrument (ONHQ) and 2) to evaluate the quality of Korean nursing homes. Methods: The study employed a three-phase methodological research design. 1) The original instrument of Rantz's ONHQ was translated into Korean and modified by Korean nursing home experts. 2) A pilot study using the modified instrument was done in 20 nursing homes to examine inter-rater reliability. 3) The validity and reliability were tested in 98 nursing homes. Results: Seven factors were extracted through factor analysis: 'communication', 'care delivery', 'grooming', 'odor', 'environment- basics', 'environment-access', and 'environment-homelike'. These factors explained 86.07% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the 30 items was .97 indicating a high internal consistency of the instrument. Inter-rater reliability according to Kappa was .82. The average score of nursing home quality was 112.07 indicating an average range of quality level. Conclusion: The Korean version of the ONHQ was identified as a tool with a high degree of validity and reliability. This tool can be effectively used to assess the quality of nursing homes by professions as well as family members.