Translation and validation in Greek of the Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society Cultural Competence Self-Assessment Checklist for health professionals

Abstract

Introduction The World Health Organization emphasizes the importance of training future healthcare practitioners to practice respectful and person-centered health care. The importance of this can be demonstrated in the example of cultural competence, which has been observed to be associated with improved patient satisfaction and concordance with recommended treatment. The aim of this study was to translate and validate in the Greek language the Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society Cultural Competence Self-Assessment Checklist (CVC) for health professionals and test it in the population of health scientists in Cyprus. Methods A cross-sectional analysis took place between October 2021 and January 2022 in 300 health scientists in Cyprus using convenient sampling. The sample consisted of doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers and physiotherapists. In order to test the questionnaire’s internal consistency reliability, we used the Cronbach’s coefficient alpha, while construct validity and discriminant ability were also assessed. Results After the translation of the Cultural Competence Self-Assessment Checklist there was a Cronbach’s alpha indication of 0.78 in all three thematic units of the checklist. Men showed lower mean values in awareness and knowledge in cultural issues related to health (17.3 ± 3.2) in comparison to women (27 ± 4.8) (p=0.004). In contrast, the mean values in skills and cultural competence in women were higher (29.8 ± 4.1) than in men (18.8 ± 6.2) (p<0.001). Health professionals who had previously received training on cultural competence skills showed higher mean values (41.0 ± 5.5). Conclusions The Greek version of the Cultural Competence Self-Assessment Checklist of the Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society is a valid instrument that can be used in the Greek language referring to health scientists both in Cyprus and Greece.

Keywords

• cultural competence
• health professionals
• validation in greek
• self assessment