title: Development and evaluation of an instrument to measure community pharmacists' self-efficacy beliefs about communicating with Spanish-speaking patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hispanics are the largest growing population in the United States, and their use of prescription medications can be influenced by the education and counseling they receive from pharmacists. However, little is known about pharmacists' communication with patients who speak Spanish or factors that can influence such communication.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the study was to develop and validate an instrument to measure pharmacists' self-efficacy in communicating with Spanish-speaking patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  An initial pool of 15 items developed from previous research and suggestions from communication experts and practicing pharmacists was subjected to cognitive interviewing. Nine retained items were administered to 1022 licensed pharmacists by mail survey. Summary statistics and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were conducted. Retained factors were determined by the examination of eigenvalues and scree test results. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were calculated to assess internal consistency.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 540 community pharmacists completed the survey. Item means ranged from 2.93±1.47 to 1.58±0.88 based on a 5-point scale (1: not at all confident to 5: extremely confident). EFA resulted in a 2-factor solution, accounting for 71% of the variance. The 2 factors consisted of health and drug information (alpha=0.92) and opening the encounter (alpha=0.75). The alpha for the overall scale was 0.88.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results provide evidence to support the reliability and validity of an instrument to measure pharmacists' self-efficacy beliefs about communicating with Spanish-speaking patients in community practice. Practitioners and researchers may use this instrument to inform pharmacy education, pharmacy practice improvement, and research efforts around communicating with Spanish-speaking clients.
authors.affiliation: Social and Administrative Sciences Division, University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy, Madison, WI 53705, USA. hnyoung@pharmacy.wisc.edu
authors.forename: Henry N
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Monica J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Dilworth
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mott
authors.forename: Elizabeth D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: Megan A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Moreno
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020377:Self Efficacy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires