Development of a Cultural Competence Assessment instrument

This article describes initial testing of an instrument designed to provide evidence of cultural competence among health care providers and staff. The Cultural Competence Assessment (CCA) instrument was based on a model describing cultural competence components (fact, knowledge, attitude, and behavior). Content and face validity were confirmed through expert panel review, subject feedback, and field-testing. The CCA was administered to an interdisciplinary health care team in a community hospice setting. Preliminary findings suggest that the CCA performed well. Internal consistency reliability for the scale was 0.92. Construct validity by factor analysis demonstrated that 25 items had loadings above 0.42. Construct validity was supported with a significant correlation to the widely used Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competence among Health care Professionals (IAPCC). Validity also was supported by significant differences between individuals with different educational levels and prior diversity training. The CCA is a promising tool to measure cultural competence in populations with a wide range of educational levels and backgrounds.