Assessing the Intercultural Competence of Faculty in Academic Medicine and Health Professions: Concepts and Metrics

Diverse perspectives are considered essential for achieving the best science and education in biomedicine. To evaluate attitudes and abilities necessary to achieve the benefits of drawing on diverse perspectives, we assessed five novel metrics: Valuing Diversity: Attitudes and Behaviors, Antisexism and Antiracism Skills, Change Agency for Equity, Identity Self-Awareness, and Cognitive Empathy.

Using the C-Change Faculty Survey we surveyed faculty in medical and other health profession schools. Psychometric evaluation included: internal consistency, exploratory factor analysis, multiple indicator multiple causes (MIMIC) modeling, item response theory (IRT) analysis, and differential item functioning (DIF) analysis.

Sample: 3,724 faculty at medical schools and 591 at other health profession schools; male: 2,193; female: 1,901; 757 were underrepresented by race and ethnicity; 3,290 faculty were adequately represented; mean response rate: 60%. All five scales showed excellent internal consistency. Each scale was well characterized by a unitary factor. MIMIC analysis on three scales demonstrated a three-factor structure. IRT demonstrated strong measurement properties, although DIF between underrepresented and non-underrepresented groups, and males and females was evident.

The conceptual model presented and these psychometrically strong scales will prove useful for institutions looking to evaluate objectively faculty intercultural competence and address health equity.