Q & A
How is the DIS used?
The DIS is a multi-purpose tool for those healthcare organizations planning change (e.g. working toward shared governance or magnet status, decentralizing administration) or improving the quality of the work environment (e.g. nurse satisfaction, retention, job strain, and burnout).
The DIS can be used as an organizational development tool or an evaluative measure. For example, the part of the DIS measuring perceived actual decisional involvement can be used as a pre- and post measurement tool prior to, during, or after organizational change, while the other part of the DIS measuring preferred decisional involvement is valuable for assessment of shared leadership initiatives. When using both parts of the DIS together, the gap (dissonance) between the actual and preferred decisional involvement can be assessed and target areas for change can easily be identified for further development.
Who has used the DIS?
The DIS has been used by many institutions across America and in several foreign countries. The DIS is primarily used by: nursing hospital administrators, nursing researchers, nursing faculty, nursing educators, staff developers, and nursing students.
How is the DIS Scored?
The DIS uses a 5-point scale. Respondents indicate who they perceive actually (or prefer) are the primary decision-makers according to the scale. For example, administration/management only = 1, primarily administration/management with some staff nurse input = 2, equally shared by administration/management and staff nurses =3, to staff nurses only = 5. Items can be considered individually, by subgroup, or the DIS can be scored as a composite as a score ranging from 21- 105. Others prefer to view the DIS subscales and composite score as a mean using the 1-5 scoring method – showing for the entire DIS and for each subscale the actual and desired mean scores. A high score suggests a high degree of staff nurse involvement and a low score suggests a high degree of administration/managerial involvement. A mid-range score indicates sharing of decisional involvement. When both scores are used (actual and preferred) the degree of decisional dissonance between actual and preferred can be identified.