About The IRMAT

Finalized as a pilot tool in the summer of 2023, the Integrative Review Methodology Appraisal Tool (IRMAT, “ear-mat”) is designed to appraise whether recommended methodological elements are present in published integrative reviews in the nursing literature. 

content validity

According to a panel of nursing integrative review experts, the IRMAT demonstrates content validity at the item level, with > 0.80 I-CVI for all items.

internal consistency reliability

 The 18 items of the pilot IRMAT loaded onto two factors (Design and Analysis) and were found to have acceptable internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.741 and 0.719, respectively).

construct validity

 After exploratory and
confirmatory factor analyses, the 18-item tool demonstrated evidence of construct validity. The 18 items loading onto the two factors explained 25.2% of the cumulative variance.

inter-rater reliability

Inter-rater reliability
(IRR) of the items was slight (0.00-0.20) to moderate (0.41-0.60) for 15 (83%) of the 18 items, with one
item demonstrating substantial IRR (0.61-0.80) and two items demonstrating poor IRR (< 0.00).