Adapting the supervisory relationship measure for general medical practice

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychometrics
• General Practice Training

Background:

• The supervisor-registrar relationship is crucial for training future general practice (GP) doctors.
• Current evaluations primarily focus on the registrar's perspective, lacking supervisor-validated tools.
• This study adapts and validates a measure for GP supervisors in Australia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt and validate a tool for assessing the quality of the supervisory relationship from the GP supervisor's viewpoint.
• To provide a reliable instrument for evaluating supervisor-registrar dynamics in Australian general practice.

Main Methods:

• Expert Group review and item adaptation of an existing clinical psychology supervisory relationship measure.
• Validation using data from 338 general practice supervisors in Australia.
• Principal components analysis and Procrustes confirmatory rotation were employed.

Main Results:

• An optimal three-component model of the supervisory relationship was identified.
• The components are: Safe base (α = .96), Supervisor investment (α = .85), and Registrar professionalism (α = .94).
• The adapted tool, GP-SRM, demonstrated excellent model fit and high internal consistency.

Conclusions:

• The General Practice Supervisory Relationship Measure (GP-SRM) is a validated tool for assessing supervisor-registrar relationships.
• The measure is theoretically consistent with the original tool and shows strong psychometric properties.
• Findings have implications for improving clinical education and guiding future research in GP training.