Assessing educational priorities in genetics for general practitioners and specialists in five countries: factor structure of the Genetic-Educational Priorities (Gen-EP) scale.
OBJECTIVE
A scale assessing primary care physicians' priorities for genetic education (The Gen-EP scale) was developed and tested in five European countries. The objective of this study was to determine its factor structure, to test scaling assumptions and to determine internal consistency.


METHODS
The sample consisted of 3686 practitioners (general practitioners, gyneco-obstetricians, pediatricians) sampled in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and United Kingdom. We first determined the factor structure of the Gen-EP scale (30 items) on the whole sample. Scaling assumptions were then tested on each country using multitrait scaling analysis. Internal consistency was assessed across the five countries.


RESULTS
Six factors were identified accounting for 63.3% of the variance of the items. They represented the following priorities for genetic education: "Genetics of Common Diseases"; "Ethical, Legal, and Public Health Issues"; "Approaching Genetic Risk Assessment in Clinical Practice"; "Basic Genetics and Congenital Malformations"; "Techniques and Innovation in Genetics" and "Psychosocial and Counseling Issues." In each country, convergent and discriminant validity were satisfactory. Internal-consistency reliability coefficients (Cronbach's alpha) were all above the acceptable threshold (0.70).


CONCLUSIONS
The Gen-EP scale could be a helpful instrument in different countries to organize and evaluate the impact of genetic educational programs for primary care providers.
Calefato
Jean-Marc
JM
INSERM, UMR912, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
Nippert
Irma
I
Harris
Hilary J
HJ
Kristoffersson
Ulf
U
Schmidtke
Jorg
J
Ten Kate
Leo P
LP
Anionwu
Elizabeth
E
Benjamin
Caroline
C
Challen
Kirsty
K
Plass
Anne-Marie
AM
Harris
Rodney
R
Julian-Reynier
Claire
C
D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000235:genetics; D005060:Europe; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005817:Genetic Counseling / Q000379:methods; D005826:Genetics, Medical / Q000193:education* / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000193:education*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires