Developing a Scale to Measure Interprofessional Collaboration in HIV Prevention and Care: Implications for Research on Patient Access and Retention in the HIV Continuum of Care

Abstract

To adapt and validate a scale for measuring interprofessional collaboration in HIV prevention and care (IPC-HIV), primary survey data were collected (2012-2017) from 577 HIV service providers in 60 organizations in New York, New Jersey, and Michigan. Cross-sectional training data were used to develop the IPC-HIV scale. The model was validated by fitting the five-factor confirmatory factor-analysis model to a 30-item set. The scale measures five domains with reliable alpha coefficients: Interdependence, Professional Activities, Flexibility, Collective Ownership, and Reflection on Process. Correlations between subscales were significant (p < .05). The strongest correlation was between Reflection on Process and Collective Ownership subscale scores. Mean scores ranged from 4.070 to 4.880, with the highest score for Flexibility across all locations. IPC-HIV is valid and reliable among HIV-prevention and care workers, and is recommended for examining the effect of IPC on patient access to HIV testing and primary care.

Interprofessional Collaboration Improves the Odds of Educating Patients About PrEP over Time

“…We used an abbreviated version of the Bronstein (2002) IPC Index 17 . The abbreviated 30-item scale 18 contains five domains measuring opinions (strongly agree to strongly disagree) regarding IPC: interdependence (e.g., "I ask colleagues in other agencies for their expertise"); newly created professional activities (e.g., "New programs emerge from collaboration between colleagues from different agencies"); flexibility (e.g., "I am willing to take on tasks outside of my job description, when I think it is important"); collective ownership of goals (e.g., "My colleagues from other agencies work with me in an effort to resolve conflicts"); and reflection on process (e.g., "Colleagues from agencies in my network share information with consumers and students") These five domains were taken as indicators of a single latent variable representing IPC in the structural equation modeling (scale Cronbach alpha = 0.84).…”