Measuring attitudes toward communication skills in nursing and health sciences: psychometric properties of the CSAS in Spain

Abstract

Introduction The communication skills of healthcare professionals directly influence interventions with patients and their families, and therefore, the quality of care provided. Aim To adapt and validate the CSAS questionnaire in a Spanish university sample of Health Sciences students: Nursing, Psychology, Physiotherapy, Medicine, among others. Materials and methods A cross-sectional design was employed with a sample of 792 participants (21.9% male) with a mean age of 21.12 years. The internal structure, internal consistency, factorial invariance, differential validity by sex, and convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument were analyzed. Normative data were also calculated. Results Two factors (positive and negative attitudes) with a correlation of −0.71 were obtained, demonstrating adequate fit (GFI = 0.967, NFI = 0.920, SRMR = 0.059) and with an internal consistency of 0.852 and 0.632, respectively. The factorial structure showed clear differences by sex, with different correlations between both factors: −0.77 for males and −0.68 for females. The test demonstrated adequate convergent validity with other similar measures. Differences in scores were observed by sex, with higher values on the scale for males. Conclusion The Spanish version of the CSAS is a valid instrument for evaluating interpersonal communication skills, both generally and specifically in the field of Health Sciences. The establishment of normative data for the CSAS will allow for the identification of the relative position of evaluated individuals in relation to a university sample.