ARTICLE
Volume 10,Issue 7
31 May 2026
A Systematic Review of the Psychometric Properties of Patient Safety Culture Assessment Instruments
Yubo Xing ,
Xiao Shan ,
Hongxi Jin ,
Keying Yang ,
Lingqian Bao ,
Ying Qian
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School of Public Health and Nursing, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311100, Zhejiang, China,
JCNR 2026 , 10(5), 32–45;
https://doi.org/10.26689/jcnr.v10i5.14556
© 2026 by the Authors. Licensee Whioce Publishing, Singapore. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract
Objective: A comprehensive analysis of patient safety culture assessment tools for domestic and international patients was conducted to provide references for healthcare institutions in investigating safety culture and safety awareness, as well as for the development of related tools. Methods: A systematic search across nine databases, identified studies on tool development or validation. Data extraction was followed by methodological quality assessment using the COSMIN Risk of Bias checklist and evaluation of psychometric properties against updated criteria. Results: From 42 included studies (24 development, 18 validation), 24 distinct instruments were identified: 13 generic and 11 setting-specific. Commonly assessed dimensions were teamwork, communication openness, organizational learning, event reporting, staffing, and patient safety. Conclusion: Findings reveal a wide variety of instruments but no unified standard, underscoring the need for context-specific tools. It is recommended to develop concise, theoretically grounded localized instruments to support safety management. In China, independently developed tools remain limited. Future work should prioritize creating culturally adapted instruments with strong psychometric stability and applicability for the Chinese context.
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