Development, content validity and inter-rater reliability testing of the CIMI-BRIGHT: an instrument to assess the level of chronic illness management implemented in solid organ transplant programs

Introduction: In this article we report the item generation, validity and inter-rater reliability testing of the Chronic Illness Management Implementation - Building Research Initiative Group: Chronic Illness Management and Adherence in Transplantation instrument. Methods: The instrument was developed based on the World Health Organization's Innovative Care for Chronic Conditions framework by the research team in consultation with a chronic illness management expert and a focus group of transplant nurses. Seven chronic illness management experts were used to assist in calculating the content validity index for each item and the total instrument. A pilot study was conducted in two transplant programmes to examine inter-rater reliability. Percent agreement by professionals working within the same centre was calculated by averaging the percent agreement on individual items. Results: The instrument content validity index was 87%. The percentage agreement in both transplant programmes was 84.6% and 74.8%, indicating good inter-rater reliability. The final instrument consists of 55 items. Discussion: The results are promising, suggesting its value as a tool to measure implementation of chronic illness management in transplant programmes.