Development and Validation of a Self-Assessment Tool for an Integrative Model of Health Promotion in Hospitals: Taiwan’s Experience

The Health Promotion Administration of Taiwan launched an integrative certification initiative in 2016 to streamline a plural system of certifications of health promotion in hospitals. It endeavored to replace original certifications, thereby establishing the proposal of a self-assessment instrument to aid in this integration. This study aimed to verify the robustness of this self-assessment tool by conducting exploratory factor analyses through stratification, reliability tests, content and construct validity tests, and specialist evaluations, which were convened to judge the comprehensibility, applicability, and importance of the standards and measures of this tool. A stratified random sampling of 46 hospitals was performed to confirm the validity of this tool. The tool rendered a floor effect of 0% and a ceiling effect of 13%. A valid factor structure and internal consistency (α ranged from 0.88 to 0.96) in each standard were verified. Hospitals with previous certificates or with 300+ beds achieved high compliance scores. A majority of experts agreed that the sub-standards were comprehensible (≥80%), applicable (≥70%), and important (≥70%). Finally, we conclude that the self-assessment tool is valid and can serve as a reference for other countries with hospitals committed to health promotion in hospital settings.