Confirmatory factor analysis of the Questionnaire on the Health Staff’s Perceptions Regarding Doutores da Alegria’s Interventions

Abstract

A confirmatory analysis was performed to validate the Questionnaire on the Health Staff’s Perceptions Regarding Doutores da Alegria’s Intervention, a 40-item instrument designed to assess pediatric staff’s perceptions regarding the effects of Doutores da Alegria, a Brazilian hospital clowning professional organization. Eight dimensions were evaluated: the permanence of Doutores da Alegria’s interventions; Doutores da Alegria’s intrapersonal and interpersonal effects on their relation to health staff; themselves; staff–children; and staff–family relationships; as well as their effect on staff’s cultural development; children’s relation to their own disease; and families’ attitude regarding their child’s condition. In all, 567 health professionals from 13 Brazilian hospitals participated. The instrument’s good psychometric features are acknowledged.