ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To assess the validity and reliability of an 11-item questionnaire for stages of readiness to change according to a modified Prochaska model (including attitude, intention and action stage) in the context of continuing medical education (CME) on depressive disorders for general practitioners (GPs) in Tehran, Iran. METHODS: Three hundred and fifty GPs were recruited for filling in a questionnaire in order to assess content validity and modifying the questionnaire. Fifty-nine GPs were involved for testing reliability and 39 GPs for testing concurrent validity. Content validity of the questionnaire was assessed by expert consensus. Concurrent validity was assessed by correlating the results of a semi-structured interview with those of the self-assessment questionnaire. For testing reliability there was a test-retest approach with an interval of 3-7 days. RESULTS: A panel of experts was held at four times and the final version of modified Prochaska questionnaire (MPQ) was compiled by the panel. Total kappa coefficient for concurrent validity of the whole questionnaire was 0.80. Only two of the questions had a kappa coefficient lower than 0.70. In the test-retest, 96% of participants reassigned to the same stage and the total kappa coefficient of reliability was 0.89 for the whole questionnaire. CONCLUSION: The validity and reliability of the MPQ for assessing GPs' readiness to change in the field of depressive disorders were found to be high in the Iranian context. These findings support its application in tailoring and evaluating CME programmes for GPs in Iran.
Subject(s)
Attitude of Health Personnel , Depression , Education, Medical, Continuing , Models, Theoretical , Physicians, Family , Surveys and Questionnaires , Adult , Aged , Female , Humans , Interviews as Topic , Iran , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: It is a high priority that health care providers have effective communication skills. It has been well documented that the doctor-patient relationship is central to the delivery of high quality medical care, and it has been shown to affect patient satisfaction, to decrease the use of pain killers, to shorten hospital stays, to improve recovery from surgery and a variety of other biological, psychological and social outcomes. This study sought to quantify the current knowledge of interns in Iran about communication skills. METHODS: A cross-sectional study using a self-report questionnaire was conducted among interns. Data analysis was based on 223 questionnaires. The internal consistency of the items was 0.8979. RESULTS: Overall, knowledge levels were unsatisfactory. Results indicated that interns had a limited knowledge of communication skills, including identification of communication skills. In addition, there was a significant difference between the mean scores of interns on breaking bad news and sex education. The confidence of males about their communication skills was significantly higher than for females. Analysis of the total scores by age and sex showed that there was a statistically significant main effect for sex and the interaction with age was statistically significant. Free response comments of the interns are also discussed. CONCLUSIONS: It is argued that there is a real need for integrating a communication skills course, which is linked to the various different ethnic and religious backgrounds of interns, into Iranian medical curricula. Some recommendations are made and the limitations of the study are discussed.
