Assessing Physician's Motivational Communication Skills: 5-Step Mixed Methods Development Study of the Motivational...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Behavioral Science
• Public Health

Background:

• Effective behavior change counseling is crucial for managing noncommunicable chronic diseases.
• Current tools for assessing motivational communication (MC) skills are impractical for clinical settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a brief, web-based tool, the Motivational Communication Competency Assessment Test (MC-CAT), for evaluating healthcare provider (HCP) MC skills.

Main Methods:

• Developed MC-CAT using a 5-step, mixed-methods approach with 11 core MC competencies.
• Created and validated case scenarios with international experts, translated them, and integrated them into a web platform.
• Conducted initial internal validity assessments with health students.

Main Results:

• MC-CAT assesses MC competency in 20 minutes using 16 diverse behavioral cases.
• Automatic scoring of 11 competency items across 4 randomly selected cases.
• No significant differences found between case versions; acceptable internal consistency (α=.78).

Conclusions:

• MC-CAT is an internally valid tool for evaluating HCP MC competencies.
• Ready for comprehensive psychometric analysis with a national HCP sample.
• Expected to enhance MC skill assessment, improve patient lifestyle support, and reduce chronic disease burdens.