Designing and Psychometrics of the Educational Booklet on the Principles of Radiation Protection to Promote Radiation Safety Culture among Surgical Team

Aims: Training and improving the surgical team's awareness of radiation protection is necessary to prevent severe and irreparable damage. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to compile and psychometrically evaluate (content and face validity) the educational booklet on the principles of radiation protection to promote the knowledge and culture of radiation safety of the operating room staff and prevent injuries. Materials and Methods: The current research is a methodology carried out in Iran University of Medical Sciences in 2022-2023 in three stages: first, the content of the educational booklet was selected based on the needs of the target audience, and the related articles and sources were reviewed. Then, the initial draft of the educational manual was designed and prepared. After that, expert judges in related fields as well as anesthesia and operating room technologists evaluated the formal and content validity of the manual. The content validity index at the item level (I-CVI) and the content validity index at the scale level (S-CVI) equal to or greater than 0.78 and 0.9, respectively, were considered as criteria for validity of the booklet. The binomial test was used to check the reliability of the content validity index of the items so that the significance level was 0.05 and the expected agreement ratio was 0.8. Data were analyzed using SPSS 26 software. Findings: In this research, 22 experts in related fields and 22 anesthesia and operating room technologists with an average work experience of 13.8±4.3 years and 15.6±6.3 years participated, respectively. After sending and receiving the draft version of the booklet along with its evaluation scale, the specialists and experts participating in the study were given the minimum values of I-CVI and S-CVI values for the desired scale items to check the face validity and content of the booklet. According to experts, it was equal to 0.9 and 0.97, respectively. The minimum observed agreement ratio of the binomial test was 0.9, which was more than the expected agreement ratio (0.8). The values of I-CVI, S-CVI, and agreement ratio between anesthesia and operating room technologists were all equal to 1. Conclusion: The present educational booklet has an acceptable form and content validity based on the research findings. Therefore, it can be used as a simple tool to promote radiation safety culture and prevent radiation damage in operating rooms.