Highlights

Despite their importance, dignity and respect are woefully undefined, and often cast aside, which is reflected by the scarcity of in-depth studies.

Brazilian patients feel respected, but when it comes to consideration and integrity, it is nothing short of heartbreaking.

Brazilian health professionals do not ask their patients whom they would like to share information with. And this demands our utmost attention.

A sting of disrespect and affronts to our dignity seldom escape our notice.

The Scale of Perception of Respect for and Maintenance of the Dignity of the Inpatient sheds light on this aspect of human interaction.

Abstract

Objective

To adapt the Scale of Perception of Respect for and Maintenance of the Dignity of the Inpatient (CuPDPH) to the Brazilian language and culture and to assess its psychometric properties.

Results

The scale was evaluated by 15 experts, and 239 patients from three tertiary hospitals in Rio de Janeiro. All participants signed a consent form. Data have shown adequacy of the model (KMO=0.839, Bartlett's test of sphericity: χ²(171) = 2241.3, p = 0.000010), good adjusted content validity (CVC_a ≥ 0.90), internal consistency and reliability, such as α = 0.927.

Discussion

CuPDPH is a rating scale on observable professional attitudes. Illnesses change lives and impose adaptation to a new situation, perceived as depersonalization, leading patients to try to regain control of their lives. Patients expressed “ill will” to fill out the scale. Psychiatric patients’ scale filling time was higher than others. A sample from three Rio de Janeiro third-level hospitals may not reflect the country's population; also, this adaptation may not comprise all linguistic variations of Brazilian Portuguese and Portuguese-speaking countries.

Conclusion

The Portuguese version of the Scale of Perception of Respect for and Maintenance of the Dignity of the Inpatient (CuPDPH), a 19-item, six-component version is a reliable instrument to measure the perception of internal medicine, surgical, and psychiatric patients on the maintenance of their dignity in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This knowledge could be used in advancing research on patients’ perception of dignity, as well as professional ethical competencies, staff-patient relationship skills, and leadership development in medical and other healthcare professional education.

Keywords
Intimacy; Identity; Respect; Consideration; Dignity; Cross-cultural adaptation