Development of Written Counseling Tool for Subcutaneous Anticoagulant Use in COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

There is a lack of subcutaneous anticoagulant counseling tools for COVID-19 patients. This study aims to develop and validate a written counseling tool for subcutaneous anticoagulant use in COVID-19 patients. A prospective cohort study was performed with expert panels and patients. The tool was validated by hospital pharmacists using Content Validity Index (I-CVI), Scale-level-CVI (S-CVI), and Universal Acceptance (UA). Face validation by patients was determined using Item Acceptance Index (IAI), and Universal Acceptance (UA). Hospital pharmacists (n=26) were mostly female (n=18, 69.2%) and Chinese (n=20, 76.9%), with a mean age of 35.8 +/- 2.9 years. All items were assessed relevantly (n=18, 100%), I-CVIs ranging from 0.96-1.00 by hospital pharmacists. The average proportion of items, I-CVI average, (Sum of I-CVI/no. of items: 17.88/18) was reported as 0.99. S-CVI/UA (Sum of UA/no. of items: 15/18) was reported as 0.83, and S-CVI/Average (Sum of I-CVI/no. of items: 17.88/18) was reported as 0.99 indicating high content validity. Patients (n=28) involved in face validation of the construct were mostly female (n=19, 67.9%), Malay (n=46.4%), and tertiary educated (n=20, 71.4%) with a mean age of 38.0 +/- 9.8 years. All items were marked as relevant (n=18, 100%), with IAI ranging from 0.93-1.00, suggesting patients accepted each item of the construct. The average proportion of items was reported as 0.99 (Sum of IAI/no. of items: 17.82/18), indicating excellent acceptance and content comprehension among patients. The developed counseling tool is acceptable for anticoagulant education among COVID-19 patients.