The pediatric provider communication skills assessment scale

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Communication
• Psychometrics
• Pediatric Medicine

Background:

• Effective communication between healthcare professionals and patients/parents is crucial for improving satisfaction.
• Developing reliable assessment tools is essential for evaluating and enhancing communication skills in pediatric care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate "The Pediatric Provider Communication Skills Assessment Scale" (PPC-SAS).
• To provide a new, objective measurement tool for assessing pediatric provider communication.

Main Methods:

• A 44-statement trial form underwent linguistic and psychometric validation with 325 participants.
• Exploratory factor analysis and comparison of lower-upper groups assessed construct and internal validity.
• Cronbach's alpha and split-half tests determined scale reliability.

Main Results:

• The final "Pediatric Provider Communication Skills Assessment Scale" comprises 20 items across one dimension, explaining 62.3% of the variance.
• The scale demonstrated high reliability, with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.90.

Conclusions:

• The developed "Pediatric Provider Communication Skills Assessment Scale" is a valid and reliable instrument.
• The scale offers a high-variance, low-item count tool for measuring pediatric communication effectiveness.
• This validated scale can enhance understanding of communication's impact on pediatric care delivery.