Design and validation of a self-perception scale of basic knowledge about telehealth and digital skills for students in the area of Health Sciences

Abstract

Introduction: the characteristics of telehealth and telemedicine pose a challenge for its successful insertion into the professional training curriculum in the areas of health. To date, no research has been carried out that addresses the integration of telehealth and telemedicine in the academic curriculum of Chilean universities.Objective: design an instrument that allows measuring the self-perception of students in the area of health sciences in relation to their level of knowledge of basic aspects of telehealth and digital skills.Method: a 12-item instrument was designed with a Likert scale from 0 to 7, made up of two dimensions: Basic elements associated with telehealth (7 items) and skills associated with the use of technologies (5 items). It was applied to 308 students from five Chilean universities in the area of health sciences, the sample was intentional non-probabilistic.Results: a Cronbach's Alpha of 0,9035 was obtained for dimension 1 and 0,9729 for dimension 2. The factor analysis confirmed the existence of the two proposed dimensions.Conclusions: the instrument designed allows us to measure the perceived level of health sciences students in relation to the basic elements associated with telehealth and the skills for using technologies