Psychometric evaluation of the Medical Science Graduates\' Cultural Competency Questionnaire

Abstract

Objective (s): Since cultural competency is an important issue for health care professionals. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire to assess the cultural competency for medical graduates. Methods: first an item pool was s generated. Then the content and face validity was assessed by a panel of 15 experts familiar with clinical education and cultural competence. The structural validity of the questionnaire was assessed using the information obtained from 542 medical students working in medical centers in Tehran by exploratory factor analysis. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by examining internal consistency. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 24. Results: Out of 103 items generated after content validity 64 items remained. The structural validity of the questionnaire as assessed by the exploratory factor analysis led to removing 14 items. The final version of the questionnaire contained 50 items tapping into 8 factors that jointly explained 53.45% of variance observed. The Cronbachchr('39')s alpha coefficient for the whole questionnaire was 0.96 and for the 8 factors ranged from 0.88 to 0.89. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the Medical Science Graduateschr('39') Cultural Competency Questionnaire is a valid and reliable measure that can be used as an instrument to assess the cultural competency of medical students.

Keywords

• validity
• reliability
• tool
• cultural competency