Purpose
Training of health professionals requires development of interprofessional competencies and assessment of these competencies. No validated tools exist to assess all four competency domains described in the 2011 Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (the IPEC Report). The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale based on the IPEC competency domains that assesses interprofessional attitudes of students in the health professions.
Method
In 2012, a survey tool was developed and administered to 1,549 students from the University of Utah Health Science Center, an academic health center composed of four schools and colleges (Health, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) were performed to validate the assessment tool, eliminate redundant questions, and to identify subscales.
Results
The EFA and CFA focused on aligning subscales with IPEC core competencies, and demonstrating good construct validity and internal consistency reliability. A response rate of 45% (n = 701) was obtained. Responses with complete data (n=678) were randomly split into two datasets which were independently analyzed using EFA and CFA. The EFA produced a 27-item scale, with five subscales (Cronbach’s alpha coefficients: 0.62 to 0.92). CFA indicated the content of the five subscales was consistent with the EFA model.
Conclusions
The Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (IPAS) is a novel tool that, compared to previous tools, better reflects current trends in interprofessional competencies. The IPAS should be useful to health sciences educational institutions and others training people to work collaboratively in interprofessional teams.