Minho Communication Assessment Scale: Development and Validation.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Communication Skills Assessment

Background:

• Effective communication is crucial in medical practice and requires systematic monitoring in medical schools.
• Assessing these essential communication skills presents a significant challenge in medical education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel communication assessment scale for medical students.
• To rigorously evaluate the psychometric properties, validity, and reliability of this new scale.

Main Methods:

• A communication assessment scale was developed with five key dimensions: Structure, Way of Questioning, Behavior and Posture, Clarity of information, and Emotional dimension.
• The scale was created by faculty members and experienced standardized patients through focus groups and a dedicated development group.
• Psychometric properties were assessed using descriptive analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and Cronbach's alpha for reliability.

Main Results:

• The scale was tested on 332 medical students (3rd and 6th year) with 2754 assessments.
• Factor analyses indicated satisfactory results, and Cronbach's alpha confirmed high internal consistency.
• The final Minho Communication Assessment Scale comprises 19 items, noted for its simplicity and intuitive design.

Conclusions:

• The Minho Communication Assessment Scale is a valid and reliable tool for assessing medical students' communication skills.
• Both faculty and standardized patients can effectively utilize the scale for accurate student evaluation and feedback.
• The scale is suitable for replication in objective structured clinical examinations focused on communication skills.