[Construction and validation of an attitude scale to primary health care]

To elaborate and validate a scale which can be used as an instrument to find the attitudes towards primary health care of doctors at the first care level.

Validation study and questionnaire on attitudes.

The first care level in the Murcia region. Subjects were 155 doctors (27 family and 128 general doctors) in fixed and provisional posts working in the out-clinics and health centres.

A Likert-type attitudes scale was designed with five reply options. After the pilot-study on the initial scale and the full item-item correlation, the definitive 46-item survey was elaborated. Selection of subjects was through two-stage stratified randomised sampling, by specialty (general/family medicine) and health district. Reliability was high. Contents validity was reached through various consensus methods. To test validity of construction, a factorial analysis of the main components was performed, with 7 factors isolated: overall patient care, team-work, guidance on health problems, doctor's interest in in-work training, professional role, concern for the psychosocial aspects of the illness and inclusion of second level professionals.

The scale designed is a valid instrument, both a reliable way of identifying PHC doctors' attitudes and the attitudes, which could be improved.