Development, validation, and reliability of an instrument for assessing knowledge of comprehensive care

Abstract

Objective: To develop and validate an instrument to assess knowledge of comprehensive health care in undergraduate Health Sciences programs. Methods: A methodological study with a qualitative-quantitative approach, conducted in three stages: construction of the instrument, content validation using an expert consensus technique, and reliability assessment. The expert panel comprised 21 participants in the first round and 14 in the second, with diverse backgrounds in the health sciences and from different regions of Brazil. Reliability and factor structure were assessed through internal consistency analysis and exploratory factor analysis, with a pilot test administered to 130 undergraduate medical students at a public higher education institution, excluding interns. Results: The final instrument contains 16 items organized into two components: students’ perception of comprehensive care in undergraduate education (4 items) and knowledge of comprehensive health care (12 items). The overall content validity index reached 1.0 in the second round, and the overall Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.865, indicating good internal consistency. The factor analysis confirmed a unidimensional structure for the knowledge component, with satisfactory fit indices and factor loadings between 0.43 and 0.81 for all items. Conclusion: The instrument developed showed robust evidence of content validity and reliability, constituting a useful tool for diagnosing training in comprehensive care in undergraduate health programs, with the potential to inform pedagogical decisions and multicenter studies.