Reliability and Validity of the Korean Version of Hospital Social Work Self-Efficacy Scale

Abstract

A total of 280 medical social workers in medical institutions in South Korea participated to an online survey from December 2021 to March 2022. Translation and adaptation of items of the Korean version of HSWSE followed the suggested process by the World Health Organization. To ensure privacy of study participants, the popular mobile messaging app for smartphones in South Korea was utilized. The two-fold strategy involved the recruitment of medical social workers working in hospital settings; a recruitment message was sent to the regional representatives of The Korean Association of Medical Social Workers, and the message was forwarded to their members. Various correlation and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted for data analysis. The evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Korean version of HSWSE indicated that it is a valid and reliable population-based and working environment-focused instrument. Study findings will enable the Korean version of HSWSE to be usefully utilized to improve the task performance of medical social workers, and evaluate the factors influencing their education and training. Study findings shed a light on the needs for developing and verifying culturally responsive instruments, and furthermore if its validity and reliability of the Korean version of HSWSE can be transferable internationally.

Keywords:

• Korean version of Hospital Social Work Self-Efficacy Scale
• social service measurement
• social services efficacy
• mobile messaging app
• culturally responsive instrument

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Research Fund, 2022 of The Catholic University of Korea.