Health and social care staff experience: report 2018

Appendix 1: iMatter Background

Types of Questions

The iMatter questionnaire consists of 28 attitudinal questions relating to staff engagement. These questions are phrased positively and each question has six responses: 'Strongly Agree', 'Agree', 'Slightly Agree', 'Slightly Disagree', 'Disagree', 'Strongly Disagree'. These responses are then converted to a scale between six and one, six being the most positive response and one being the least positive. The aggregated scores are then placed into one of four categories that can then be used to help inform actions. This can be done for individual questions, or as a Weighted Index Value covering the questions relevant to each Staff Governance Standard.

Example:

There is also a twenty-ninth item: 'Overall working within my organisation is a: very good experience (10 points)…very poor experience' (0 points). Response requires an 11 point sliding scale.

Response Rates

The 60% response rate was agreed by the Scottish Workforce and Staff Governance Committee (SWAG) in July 2013. This is intended to ensure that the Employee Engagement Index (EEI) reported is representative of staff experience. Where the 60% response rate is achieved the iMatter report that is generated provides response rates and EEI. All Boards and Directorates receive a Components Report regardless of whether the 60% response rate is achieved. The Components Report provides all questions mapped to staff experience questions in rank order.

Calculation of the NHSScotland Employee Engagement Index (EEI)

The iMatter questionnaire was developed within NHS. Dr Austyn Snowden & Dr Ewan MacArthur at the University of the West of Scotland have further validated the questionnaire and index (NHSS EEI). Their recommendation regarding the questionnaire and calculation of the index has been implemented by NHSScotland and gives the iMatter questionnaire credibility.

The NHSS EEI is a summary score derived from the 28 item questionnaire. In line with current policy it is designed to inform individuals, teams and organisations about the degree of staff engagement. Built in conjunction with NHSScotland staff, Scotland is the only country in the world to be developing such a systematic and systemic measure in this inclusive manner.

The NHSS EEI is generated from 28 items relating to staff engagement, each item has six Likert responses: 'Strongly Agree', 'Agree', 'Slightly Agree', 'Slightly Disagree', 'Disagree', 'Strongly Disagree'. These responses were translated to a score for statistical analysis, with 6 for 'Strongly Agree' down to 1 for 'Strongly Disagree'. The sum total of these 28 item responses gives a range of 28 - 168.

"The NHSS EEI is a robust, reliable, valid and popular measure of staff engagement. It is also an excellent tool to measure improvement in staff engagement". [1]