[Validation of an instrument for identifying styles of the professional practice of the primary care doctor].

OBJECTIVE

To elaborate and validate a questionnaire for identifying common styles of Primary Care doctors' practice.

SETTING

Primary Health Care. Public sector in Spain.

DESIGN

This was a study to validate a questionnaire administered in two phases with different samples. In the first phase, the items (item-total correlation, using Alpha on eliminating item), validity of construction, empirical validity and internal consistency, were analysed. In the second, discriminatory validity and reliability of the questionnaire (test-retest) were calculated.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

81.5% of the doctors replied in the first phase; and 100% in the second. Two factors were isolated with the Principal Components procedure, which confirmed the validity of the questionnaire's construction (52% variance explained). Internal consistency (Alphas ranged between 0.55 and 0.75) and reliability (ranging between 0.50 and 0.95 in function of the time elapsed) were also demonstrated.

CONCLUSIONS

This instrument could be used to differentiate two styles in practice, characterised by focusing on the physical illness vs the psycho-social aspects of the disease process. The instrument is also useful because it gives the feeling of control over the task.