title: Reliability and validity of a new survey to assess global health competencies of health professionals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Health professionals are paying increased attention to issues of global health. However, there are no current competency assessment tools appropriate for evaluating their competency in global health. This study aims to assess the validity and reliability of a global health competency survey for different health disciplines.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 429 students participated in the Global Health Competency Survey, drawn from family medicine residency, nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy programs of five universities in Ontario, Canada. The surveys were evaluated for face and content validity and reliability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Factor analysis was used to identify the main factors to be included in the reliability analysis. Content validity was supported with one floor effect in the "racial/ethnic disparities" variable (36.1%), and few ceiling effects. Seven of the twenty-two variables performed the best (between 34% and 59.6%). For the overall rating score, no participants had floor or ceiling effects. Five factors were identified which accounted for 95% of the variance. Cronbach's alpha was &gt;0.8 indicating that the survey items had good internal consistency and represent a homogeneous construct.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Global Health Competency Survey demonstrated good internal consistency and validity.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. mirellasv@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Mirella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Veras
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pottie
authors.forename: Vivian
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Welch
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Labonte
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Eslava-Schmalbach
authors.forename: Cornelia M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Borkhoff
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Kristjansson
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tugwell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D054521:Cultural Competency; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000592:standards*; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009864:Ontario; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013336:Students, Health Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult