Development and Evaluation of the Readability, Stability and Internal Consistency of a Psychometric Instrument Designed to Assess Physiotherapists Knowledge and Attributes of Professionalism

Abstract

Background and Purpose: There is currently no culturally appropriate instrument to assess Nigerian physiotherapists’ knowledge and attributes of professionalism. This study sets out to develop a psychometric instrument to assess the knowledge and attributes of professionalism of Nigerian physiotherapists, and to investigate the instrument's readability, stability, and internal consistency. Methods: A Professionalism Inventory with eight demographic questions, ten knowledge of professionalism questions and sixteen attributes of professionalism perception-based statements was developed. The attributes of professionalism scale assess clinical competence, a spirit of inquiry, accountability, autonomy, advocacy, innovation and visionary, collegiality and collaboration, and ethics and values. The Inventory was completed on two occasions, after two-week interval, by 91 Nigerian physiotherapists. Results: The Inventory’s average grade reading level was 10. The intra class correlation coefficient (ICC 3, 1) for the knowledge of professionalism scale ranged from “moderate” (0.421, p