Development and Content Validation of a Transcultural Instrument to Assess Organizational Readiness for Knowledge Translation in Healthcare Organizations: The OR۴KT

Background Implementing effective interventions in healthcare requires organizations to be ready to support change. This study aimed to develop, adapt transculturally, and assess the content and face validity of the Organizational Readiness for Knowledge Translation (OR۴KT) tool. The OR۴KT was designed to measure the readiness of healthcare organizations to implement evidence-informed change across a variety of services.   Methods Based on systematic reviews of the literature, a Delphi exercise, and expert consultation, we first generated an initial pool of items. Second, we developed and assessed content validity of the pilot OR۴KT questionnaire in English. Third, we created French and Spanish versions using a sequential forward and backward translation approach, and transcultural adaptation by a consensus process. Finally, we conducted pilot studies in three contexts – the Basque country region (Spain), and the provinces of Québec and Ontario (Canada) – where ۳۰ experts assessed the face validity of the three versions of OR۴KT.   Results We selected ۵۹ items, grouped in ۶ dimensions (organizational climate, context, change content, leadership, organizational support, and motivation) for the final English version of OR۴KT. Translation and transcultural adaptation did not identify any content or language problems. Our findings indicate that the English, French and Spanish versions of OR۴KT are linguistically equivalents and have high face validity. Only minor revisions to the wording of some items were recommended.   Conclusion The OR۴KT holds promise as a measure of readiness for knowledge translation (KT) in healthcare organizations. The validity and reliability of the three versions of the OR۴KT will be assessed in real-life contexts of implementation of evidence-based changes in healthcare.

Keywords:

Healthcare Organizations , Readiness for Change , Knowledge Translation , Instrument Development , Transcultural Validation