Psychometric Properties of the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) Measure in a Sample of Iranian Medical Students

Overview

Journal J Adv Med Educ Prof

Specialty Medical Education

Date 2018 Jan 19

PMID 29344525

Citations 8

Authors

Afsaneh Yakhforoshha

Mandana Shirazi

Naser Yousefzadeh

Amin Ghanbarnejad

Mohammadali Cheraghi

Rita Mojtahedzadeh

Behrooz Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari

Seyed Amir Hossein Emami

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Introduction: Communication skill (CS) has been regarded as one of the fundamental competencies for medical and other health care professionals. Student's attitude toward learning CS is a key factor in designing educational interventions. The original CSAS, as positive and negative subscales, was developed in the UK; however, there is no scale to measure these attitudes in Iran. The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric characteristic of the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS), in an Iranian context and to understand if it is a valid tool to assess attitude toward learning communication skills among health care professionals.

Methods: Psychometric characteristics of the CSAS were assessed by using a cross-sectional design. In the current study, 410 medical students were selected using stratified sampling framework. The face validity of the scale was estimated through students and experts' opinion. Content validity of CSAS was assessed qualitatively and quantitatively. Reliability was examined through two methods including Chronbach's alpha coefficient and Intraclass Correlation of Coefficient (ICC). Construct validity of CSAS was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and explanatory factor analysis (PCA) followed by varimax rotation. Convergent and discriminant validity of the scale was measured through Spearman correlation. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 19 and EQS, 6.1.

Results: The internal consistency and reproducibility of the total CSAS score were 0.84 (Cronbach's alpha) and 0.81, which demonstrates an acceptable reliability of the questionnaire. The item-level content validity index (I-CVI) and the scale-level content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) demonstrated appropriate results: 0.97 and 0.94, respectively. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on the 25 items of the CSAS revealed 4-factor structure that all together explained %55 of the variance. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated an acceptable goodness-of-fit between the model and the observed data. [χ2/df = 2.36, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.95, the GFI=0.96, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.05].

Conclusion: The Persian version of CSAS is a multidimensional, valid and reliable tool for assessing attitudes towards communication skill among medical students.

Citing Articles

Validation of the Bangla version of the Communication Skills Attitude Scale with the medical students of Bangladesh.

Islam M, Benzir M, Siddique M, Awal M, Chowdhury M, Joarder T Health Sci Rep. 2024; 7(8):e2274.

PMID: 39100714 PMC: 11294438. DOI: 10.1002/hsr2.2274.

Attitudes toward learning communication skills among Iranian medical students.

Kandevani N, Labaf A, Mirzazadeh A, Pormehr P BMC Med Educ. 2024; 24(1):193.

PMID: 38403653 PMC: 10895772. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-024-05140-8.

Evaluating clinical communication skills of medical students, assistants, and professors.

Moezzi M, Rasekh S, Zare E, Karimi M BMC Med Educ. 2024; 24(1):19.

PMID: 38172832 PMC: 10765785. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-023-05015-4.

Affective and cognitive components of students' attitudes towards communication learning - validation of the Communication Skills Attitude Scale in a cohort of polish medical students.

Przymuszala P, Cerbin-Koczorowska M, Marciniak-Stepak P, Zielinska-Tomczak L, Piszczek M, Jasinski J BMC Med Educ. 2021; 21(1):190.

PMID: 33794870 PMC: 8017827. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-021-02626-7.

A Model of Factors Determining Nurses' Attitudes towards Learning Communicative Competences.

Iwanow L, Jaworski M, Gotlib J, Panczyk M Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021; 18(4).

PMID: 33562889 PMC: 7915510. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18041544.

References

Lee E, Lee K, Song R, Snoek F, Moon S . Psychometric evaluation of the Korean version of the Diabetes Symptom Checklist-Revised (DSC-R) for patients with type 2 diabetes. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2014; 12:77. PMC: 4035851. DOI: 10.1186/1477-7525-12-77. View

Al Odhayani A, Ratnapalan S . Teaching communication skills. Can Fam Physician. 2011; 57(10):1216-8. PMC: 3192093. View

Levinson W, Roter D . Physicians' psychosocial beliefs correlate with their patient communication skills. J Gen Intern Med. 1995; 10(7):375-9. DOI: 10.1007/BF02599834. View

Rees C, Sheard C, Davies S . The development of a scale to measure medical students' attitudes towards communication skills learning: the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS). Med Educ. 2002; 36(2):141-7. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2923.2002.01072.x. View

Shield R, Tong I, Tomas M, Besdine R . Teaching communication and compassionate care skills: an innovative curriculum for pre-clerkship medical students. Med Teach. 2011; 33(8):e408-16. DOI: 10.3109/0142159X.2011.586748. View

Joosten E, DeFuentes-Merillas L, de Weert G, Sensky T, van der Staak C, de Jong C . Systematic review of the effects of shared decision-making on patient satisfaction, treatment adherence and health status. Psychother Psychosom. 2008; 77(4):219-26. DOI: 10.1159/000126073. View

Jafari P, Ghanizadeh A, Akhondzadeh S, Mohammadi M . Health-related quality of life of Iranian children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Qual Life Res. 2010; 20(1):31-6. DOI: 10.1007/s11136-010-9722-5. View

Ahn S, Yi Y, Ahn D . Developing a Korean communication skills attitude scale: comparing attitudes between Korea and the West. Med Educ. 2009; 43(3):246-53. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2923.2008.03271.x. View

Beogo I, Mendez Rojas B, Gagnon M, Liu C . Psychometric evaluation of the French version of the Clinical Nursing Competence Questionnaire (CNCQ-22): A cross-sectional study in nursing education in Burkina Faso. Nurse Educ Today. 2016; 45:173-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2016.08.007. View

10.

Haskard Zolnierek K, DiMatteo M . Physician communication and patient adherence to treatment: a meta-analysis. Med Care. 2009; 47(8):826-34. PMC: 2728700. DOI: 10.1097/MLR.0b013e31819a5acc. View

11.

Chant S, Tim , Randle J, Russell G, Webb C . Communication skills training in healthcare: a review of the literature. Nurse Educ Today. 2002; 22(3):189-202. DOI: 10.1054/nedt.2001.0690. View

12.

Rider E, Hinrichs M, Lown B . A model for communication skills assessment across the undergraduate curriculum. Med Teach. 2006; 28(5):e127-34. DOI: 10.1080/01421590600726540. View

13.

Vaughan B, Mulcahy J, McLaughlin P . The DREEM, part 2: psychometric properties in an osteopathic student population. BMC Med Educ. 2014; 14:100. PMC: 4050100. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6920-14-100. View

14.

Anvik T, Gude T, Grimstad H, Baerheim A, Fasmer O, Hjortdahl P . Assessing medical students' attitudes towards learning communication skills--which components of attitudes do we measure?. BMC Med Educ. 2007; 7:4. PMC: 1851955. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6920-7-4. View

15.

Zamanzadeh V, Ghahramanian A, Rassouli M, Abbaszadeh A, Alavi-Majd H, Nikanfar A . Design and Implementation Content Validity Study: Development of an instrument for measuring Patient-Centered Communication. J Caring Sci. 2015; 4(2):165-78. PMC: 4484991. DOI: 10.15171/jcs.2015.017. View

16.

Rees C, SHEARD C . Evaluating first-year medical students' attitudes to learning communication skills before and after a communication skills course. Med Teach. 2003; 25(3):302-7. DOI: 10.1080/0142159031000100409. View

17.

Fazel I, Aghamolaei T . Attitudes toward learning communication skills among medical students of a university in Iran. Acta Med Iran. 2011; 49(9):625-9. View

18.

Toth I, Ban I, Fuzesi Z, Kesztyus M, Nagy L . [Attitudes of freshman medical students towards education in communication skills]. Orv Hetil. 2011; 152(38):1535-43. DOI: 10.1556/OH.2011.29185. View

19.

Rao J, Anderson L, Inui T, Frankel R . Communication interventions make a difference in conversations between physicians and patients: a systematic review of the evidence. Med Care. 2007; 45(4):340-9. DOI: 10.1097/01.mlr.0000254516.04961.d5. View

20.

Busch A, Rockenbauch K, Schmutzer G, Brahler E . Do medical students like communication? Validation of the German CSAS (Communication Skills Attitude Scale). GMS Z Med Ausbild. 2015; 32(1):Doc11. PMC: 4330630. DOI: 10.3205/zma000953. View