Norms for creativity and implementation in healthcare teams: testing the group innovation inventory

OBJECTIVE: To test to what extent the four-factor structure of the group innovation inventory (GII) is confirmed for improvement teams participating in a quality improvement collaborative. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental design with baseline and end-measurement after intervention. SETTING: This study included quality improvement teams participating in the Care for Better improvement programme for home care, care for the handicapped and the elderly in the Netherlands between 2006 and 2008. PARTICIPANTS: As part of a larger evaluation study, 261 written questionnaires from team members were collected at baseline (pre-project sample) and 129 questionnaires at end-measurement (post-project sample). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Group innovation inventory. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analyses revealed the expected four-factor structure and good fit indices. The subscales ‘group functioning’ and ‘speed of action’ showed acceptable Cronbach's alphas and high inter-item correlations. The subscales ‘support for risk taking’ and ‘tolerance of mistakes’ showed insufficient reliability and validity. CONCLUSIONS: The group functioning and speed of action subscales of the GII showed acceptable psychometric properties and are applicable to quality improvement teams in health care. In order to understand how social expectations within teams working in health care organizations exert influence over attitudes and behaviours thought to stimulate creativity, further conceptualization of the norms for enhancing creativity within health care is needed.