Psychometric properties of Persian version of Doctor-Patient Communication (DPC) Scale for skill assessment in acute and critical conditions in Iran

Establishing a proper relationship between patient and physician is an essential component of quality medical care and effective communication plays an important role in health system. This study was conducted to investigate the psychometric properties of the DPC for doctor-patient communication skill assessment scale in acute and critical conditions in Iran.

In this study, the Persian version of the physician-patient relationship assessment scale in acute and critical conditions was used. The statistical population included patients referring to the hospitals affiliated to the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Based on the inclusion criteria, (n=380) were selected by convenience sampling method.  After translation and adaptation; face and content validity, reliability and structural validity (confirmatory factor analysis) were used.

Out of 380 participants in the study, 233 (61.3%) were female and 147 (38.7%) were male. More than half of participants 198 (52.1%) had a secondary education and 315 (82.9%) were employed. The content validity ratio according to experts’ panel was 0.99. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that of all 15 items were loaded with a factor loading above 0.4 and the scale had a good fit in Iranian society. Reliability was 0.96 using Cronbachchr('39')s alpha and 0.9 using test retest analysis.

The Iranian version of doctor-patient communication for skill assessment in acute and critical conditions showed good validity and reliability. By using the scale health system managers can recognize the strengths and weaknesses of communication skill and based on, they can design appropriate interventions.