Slovak cross-cultural adaptation of the Alarm Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire.
4 affiliations
- 1Division of Public Health, Department of Public Health, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland. [email protected].
- 2Catholic University in Ružomberok, Ružomberok, Slovakia.
- 3Slovak Medical University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia.
- 4Department and Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland.
Abstract
Background
Alarm fatigue is a significant issue in intensive care settings, where frequent alarms from medical equipment may overwhelm healthcare workers. This can lead to desensitization, delayed responses, and risks to patient safety. There is a lack of validated tools for assessing alarm fatigue in Slovak healthcare environments. The aim of this study was to adapt the Alarm Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire (AFAQ) to Slovak conditions and evaluate its psychometric properties.Methods
A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between June and July 2023 among 379 Slovak healthcare professionals working with electromedical devices. The Polish version of the AFAQ was translated and culturally adapted into Slovak following established international guidelines. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to test the scale's structure. Floor and ceiling effects were also analyzed to evaluate item performance.Results
The Slovak version of the AFAQ showed acceptable internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.795. CFA supported a unidimensional structure after minor modifications (RMSEA = 0.058; SRMR = 0.086).Conclusions
The Slovak adaptation of the Alarm Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire (AFAQ) demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and preliminary evidence of structural validity in the studied sample. However, the factorial structure showed only partial support, and several items demonstrated limited psychometric performance. Therefore, the Slovak AFAQ should currently be considered a preliminary cross-cultural adaptation requiring further validation in more diverse healthcare populations and clinical settings before broader application.Clinical trial number
Not applicable.
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BibTeX
@article{rypicz2026slovak,
title = {{Slovak cross-cultural adaptation of the Alarm Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire.}},
author = {Łukasz Rypicz and Martin Bereta and Olexander Dobrovanov and Olga Fedorowicz and Mária Šupínová},
journal = {BMC health services research},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1186/s12913-026-15222-6},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42907842},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Slovak cross-cultural adaptation of the Alarm Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire.
AU - Łukasz Rypicz
AU - Martin Bereta
AU - Olexander Dobrovanov
AU - Olga Fedorowicz
AU - Mária Šupínová
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
JO - BMC health services research
DO - 10.1186/s12913-026-15222-6
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42907842
AB - Background Alarm fatigue is a significant issue in intensive care settings, where frequent alarms from medical equipment may overwhelm healthcare workers. This can lead to desensitization, delayed responses, and risks to patient safety. There is a lack of validated tools for assessing alarm fatigue in Slovak healthcare environments. The aim of this study was to adapt the Alarm Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire (AFAQ) to Slovak conditions and evaluate its psychometric properties.Methods A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between June and July 2023 among 379 Slovak healthcare professionals working with electromedical devices. The Polish version of the AFAQ was translated and culturally adapted into Slovak following established international guidelines. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to test the scale's structure. Floor and ceiling effects were also analyzed to evaluate item performance.Results The Slovak version of the AFAQ showed acceptable internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.795. CFA supported a unidimensional structure after minor modifications (RMSEA = 0.058; SRMR = 0.086).Conclusions The Slovak adaptation of the Alarm Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire (AFAQ) demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and preliminary evidence of structural validity in the studied sample. However, the factorial structure showed only partial support, and several items demonstrated limited psychometric performance. Therefore, the Slovak AFAQ should currently be considered a preliminary cross-cultural adaptation requiring further validation in more diverse healthcare populations and clinical settings before broader application.Clinical trial number Not applicable.
SN - 1472-6963
ER -