Introducing the TDM-20: A Validated 20-Item Instrument to Measure Team Development

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Team Dynamics
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Effective team functioning is crucial for enhancing patient satisfaction and reducing medical errors and burnout.
• The original 31-item Team Development Measure (TDM) assesses cohesion, communication, roles, goals, and priorities but its length is a barrier in clinical settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a shortened version of the Team Development Measure (TDM-20) suitable for busy healthcare environments.
• To assess the psychometric properties of the TDM-20.

Main Methods:

• An exploratory factor analysis was conducted on data from 1,194 participants across 120 primary care teams.
• Principal component analysis with varimax rotation and Kaiser normalization was used to validate the 20-item TDM-20.
• A scree test and parallel analysis were performed.

Main Results:

• The TDM-20 yielded two domains: communication and engagement, and shared values and cohesion, each with 10 items.
• These domains accounted for 54.5% and 5.5% of the variance, respectively.
• Both domains exhibited high internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.92 and 0.93.

Conclusions:

• The TDM-20 is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring team development in primary care settings.
• The shortened TDM-20 is practical for use in time-constrained healthcare environments.
• Further research is recommended to explore the TDM-20's performance across diverse cultural contexts and current medical settings, especially post-pandemic.