Validity and Reliability of the Health Communication Competency Scale in Turkey

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Health communication competencies of the family physicians and patients in our country, who have an important role in the execution of primary health care services, will yield time efficiency and economic benefits in the implementation of preventive and curative health services. However, there is no scale to assess that competency in our country. Therefore, validity and reliability of the 'health communication competency scale' in Turkey is to be applied in this research. METHODS: The questionnaire of 253 patients and 253 family physicians were analyzed. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) statistics were used to measure the adequacy of the sample size for the Exploratory Factor Analysis application. 'Cronbach alpha' values of the factors obtained for reliability analysis were calculated. RESULTS: Health Communication Competence Scale has yielded (a) two factors in terms of analysis of basic components related to the self competencies of the physicians with Eigen value bigger than 1, (b) two factors in terms of the of the physicians' evaluation of the patients' competences, (c) three factors in terms of the self competences of the patients, (d) three factors in terms of patients' evaluation of the physicians' competences. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Cronbach's alpha value for physicians' competence in health communication is found quite high in self competence factor 1: 0.95, self competence factor 2: 0,97, other competence factor 1: 0,94, other competence factor 2: 0,95. Cronbach's alpha value for patients' competence in health communication is found quite high like physicians'.

Keywords

• health communication
• competency scale
• validity and reliability