Open AccessPsychometric properties of the Attitudes towards Medical Communication Scale in nursing students
Author(s) -
Silvia Escribano,
Rocío JuliáSanchis,
Sofía García-Sanjuán,
Nereida CongostMaestre,
Maria José CabañeroMartínez
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
peerj
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.927
H-Index - 70
ISSN - 2167-8359
DOI - 10.7717/peerj.11034
Subject(s) - scale (ratio) , structural equation modeling , equivalence (formal languages) , communication skills , psychology , health professionals , internal consistency , medical education , nursing , quality (philosophy) , health care , psychometrics , medicine , applied psychology , clinical psychology , computer science , quantum mechanics , machine learning , economics , economic growth , linguistics , philosophy , physics , epistemology
Background Adequate communication skills in healthcare professionals are one of the key elements required for achieving high-quality healthcare. Thus, measurement instruments able to assess the dimensions related to these skills, including attitudes towards communication, are useful and convenient tools. Objectives To (a) cross-culturally adapt and validate a scale to measure attitudes towards communication in a sample of nursing students in the Spanish environment; (b) describe the perceived attitudes of nursing degree students towards communication. Methods We conducted an instrumental study. First, we adapted the scale by applying a standardised linguistic validation procedure. After that, we determined its structural equivalence and evaluated its psychometric properties. Participants A total of 255 students participated; their average age was 22.66 years ( SD = 4.75) and 82% were female. Results The internal consistency of the scale was adequate (0.75), and the data fit well with the model (CFI = 0.99; TLI = 0.99; RMSEA = .01 95% CI [.00–.05]). The overall instrument score poorly correlated with the self-efficacy in communication skills variable. Conclusions The attitudes towards communication scores for these nursing students were high. The Spanish version of the Attitudes Towards Health Communication scale had adequate psychometric properties and this tool could quickly and easily be applied to assess the attitudes of health profession students.