Development and psychometric evaluation of the Group Home Culture Scale.
Lincoln Humphreys, Christine Bigby, Teresa Iacono and 1 others
PMID 31868298WHAT IT FOUND
Seven culture dimensions emerged from 343 group home staff ratings on a new 48-item scale, including supporting well-being, team factions, leadership, organizational collaboration, valuing residents, social distance, and value alignment.
It measures staff perceptions, not resident outcomes.
Key findings
01Seven factors were retained, and they accounted for 55% of the variance.
0248 items remained after examination of factor loadings and communalities.
03Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.81 to 0.92 across the factors.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The factor structure was found with exploratory factor analysis only, and the paper says confirmatory factor analysis is still needed. The scale was developed from research in underperforming and better performing group homes, not specifically high-quality group homes. Residents' adaptive behaviour was not measured, so staff ratings may have been influenced by resident ability levels. The study did not test whether Group Home Culture Scale scores relate to resident quality of life, staff job satisfaction, or service quality. Only 43% of staff returned questionnaires, and response rates varied from 8% to 64% across organizations. Staff reported perceptions of their team, which may differ from observed culture.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the seven culture dimensions as proof that using the scale improves group home culture or resident quality of life. The paper only tested whether staff ratings formed coherent subscales. It did not test service outcomes.