Evaluation of doctor-patient relationship skills - Design and validation of a grid

OBJECTIVE To develop and validate the design of a grid that assesses doctor -patient relationship skills. DESIGN Evaluation study of an assessment instrument. SETTING Private practices and family practice units. PARTICIPANTS From a sample of volunteers, 100 family physicians either in p rivate practice or in a family practice unit completed the proposed grid in dependently. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The Cronbach alpha coefficient was used to analyze in ternal consistency. Factorial analysis was used to determine whether the gr id's anticipated dimensions were in fact present. RESULTS The Cronbach alpha coefficient had a very high value (0.92), indica ting that the items in the grid were highly homogeneous. Two key factors em erged from the factorial analysis; the first factor alone (understanding pa tients' experience) accounted for almost 42% of the variance. CONCLUSION The proposed grid presents some interesting metrologic qualities . It is short and relatively simple to use to assess relationship skills of future and practising family physicians. The grid must now be further vali dated using a variety of cases.