Translation and psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Interprofessional Education Academic Behavioral...

Assessing the outcomes of IPE activities is imperative in determining their effectiveness. However, scales for outcome measurement are limited in Italian. The 38-item Interprofessional Education Academic Behavioral Confidence (IPE-ABC) scale was developed to assess IPE confidence levels among pre-registration students at two Scottish Universities. As ABC is associated with academic achievement, it was reasoned that understanding changes in students' self-reported ABC was important in relation to the IPE experience in the Italian setting. The IPE-ABC presents three subscales: Interprofessional Teamwork, Behaviors Underpinning Collaboration, and Interprofessional Communication, and was translated into Italian in accordance with guidelines. A sequential mixed-methods design was adopted. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and reliability measurement with Cronbach"s alpha (α) and Pearson's r coefficient were undertaken across four sites within Milan-Bicocca University across five professional groups of pre-registration healthcare students (N = 265). Three factors, Interprofessional Learning and Reflection (ILR), Behaviors Underpinning Collaboration (BUC), and Interprofessional Teamwork (ITW) were identified. EFA accounted for 64% of the variance. The underlying factor structure revealed a partial fit with the original scale. Reliability measurement was satisfactory (α = 0.95), ILR (α = 0.92), ITW (α = 0.91), and BUC (r = 0.69). Statistically significant differences in ABC levels were observed between age and professional groups. These findings demonstrate that the validated Italian IPE-ABC scale (I-IPE-ABC) is suitable to investigate students" self-perceived confidence levels within IPE experiences.