Psychometric Development and Validation of a Tool for Pediatric Patient Caregivers to Provide Feedback About Emergency Physician Interpersonal and Communication Skills

• Activity Number: 356 - Contributed Poster Presentations: Survey Research Methods Section
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 1, 2017 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Survey Research Methods Section
• Author(s): Shelley Kumar* and Deborah C. Hsu and Katherine Leaming Van Zandt and Eric Russell and Karina Soto-Ruiz
• Companies: Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospital
• Keywords: pediatric patients and caregivers ; Validation of an assessment tool ; Physicians interpersonal and communication skills

Abstract

Background: We sought to develop and validate an assessment tool using behaviorally descriptive response items to measure effectiveness of physicians interpersonal and communication skills (ICS). Methods: A multistep validity-driven approach was used: Literature review findings, structured input by subject matter experts and end-user focus group review used for questionnaire development. Psychometric analysis included exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and item analysis. Results: First order EFA from 389 evaluations yielded a 2-factor model (RMSEA = 0.033; CFI = 0.995): 6 items in factor 1 (physician engagement in the care process) and 7 in factor 2 (physician information delivery). To test factor structure and scale quality, CFA was conducted on calibration (n=1222) and validation (n=1190) samples. A 2 factor structure was confirmed with satisfactory fit for both samples (RMSEA ? 0.051, TLI=0.98 CFI =0.98, WRMR ? 0.98). Cronbach's ? was 0.91 for factor 1 and 0.85 for factor 2. Conclusion: This qualitatively and statistically validated assessment tool is a reliable tool for pediatric patient caregivers to evaluate physicians ICS.