Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Malay Version of the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) among Medical Students in Malaysia.

Mohamad-Zikri Mohamad-Isa,Anis Safura Ramli,Siti Fatimah Badlishah-Sham,Mohamed-Syarif Mohamed-Yassin,Noorhida Baharudin

doi:10.3390/ijerph18073778

Abstract

Communication is one of the fundamental skills in the medical profession. The Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) is a widely used questionnaire to measure the attitudes of medical students toward learning communication skills. It has been adapted and translated into many languages. The objective of this study was to adapt and translate the CSAS into the Malay language and determine its psychometric properties in medical students. This is a cross-sectional study involving 218 first-year Universiti Teknologi MARA students. Content validation, cross-cultural adaptation, translation, and face validation of the 26-item CSAS were performed according to established guidelines. Principal component analysis with direct oblimin rotation was used to determine the underlying structure of the CSAS-Malay. The reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s α coefficient for internal consistency and using the intraclass correlation coefficient for the test–retest reliability. Although the contents of the CSAS-Malay and the original version were conceptually equivalent, item 11 was removed during the content validation stage due to a low item content validity index (I-CVI < 1.00). Two subscales were derived from the remaining 25 items, which were the Positive Attitude Scale and the Negative Attitude Scale. Items 1 and 15 were removed due to poor factor loadings. The total variance explained by the final two-factor solution with three items removed was 30.8%. Cronbach’s α coefficients for both the Positive and Negative Attitude Scales in the final questionnaire were 0.815 and 0.614, respectively. It also showed a good reproducibility with intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values of 0.725–0.950 for all the items. This study provided preliminary information about the psychometric properties of the CSAS-Malay. The final 23-item questionnaire had a good construct validity, an acceptable internal consistency, and at least a moderate test–retest reproducibility. It can be used to assess the attitudes of medical students toward learning communication skills. Future research to improve the generalizability of the questionnaire should include medical students from other universities with diverse backgrounds.

Highlights

In 2002, Rees, Sheard, and Davies developed the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS), which is a widely used questionnaire to measure the attitudes of medical students toward learning communication skills [13]
This study provided preliminary information about the psychometric properties of the CSAS-Malay
Item 11 (“Communication skills teaching states the obvious and complicates it”) from the original CSAS was removed by all four members of the panel of experts as they perceived that the item may give rise to an ambiguous understanding by the medical students

Summary

Introduction

Communication is one of the fundamental skills in the medical profession. It is defined as the ability to effectively and efficiently convey information to another person [1]. Effective communication between healthcare providers, patients, and their families can improve the outcomes and satisfaction of patients. Healthcare providers with effective communication skills are able to provide the appropriate information, enabling patients to better understand medical information.

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Discussion

Conclusion