Validation of an instrument designed to assess medical student attitudes toward home care.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and validate an instrument to assess medical students' attitudes toward home care.


METHODS
Survey administration before and following participation in a home care training program.


METHODS
Five medical schools in the United States.


METHODS
326 third and fourth year medical students.


METHODS
Factor analysis was performed on all posttests. Domains were tested for internal reliability (Chronbach's alpha). Interdomain correlation was tested. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether the results for each domain differed among the five programs.


RESULTS
Using exploratory factor analysis, the original 20-item survey was revised to yield a 14-item survey consisting of four domains (general attitudes, home-based therapies, home care training, and time and reimbursement). Domain intra-item reliability ranged from 0.60 to 0.82. Interdomain correlations were found to be significant with the exception of one comparison (time and reimbursement and home care training). One-way ANOVA showed significant differences between the training programs for two of the four domains (home-based therapies and home care training). For a third domain, time and reimbursement, there was a trend toward differences across the schools (P = 0.06).


CONCLUSIONS
The instrument described in this paper is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the impact of home care training on medical student attitudes across a series of important domains.
Boal
J
J
Department of Medicine, The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York 10029, USA.
Fabacher
D
D
Miller
R
R
Siu
A
A
Kantor
B
B
Flaherty
J
J
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003625:Data Collection / Q000592:standards*; D006699:Home Care Services; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States