Cross-cultural adaptation of a questionnaire about competencies of family physicians in Kosovo from practitioners and policymakers perspective

Aim: Our aim was to validate an internat ional inst rument measuring abilit ies, skills and competencies of family physicians from pract it ioners and policymakers perspect ive in Kosovo. Methods: A sample of 20 family physicians in primary health care services and 20 policymakers in the health sector was interviewed in December 2012 and subsequent ly re-interviewed in January 2013. A structured quest ionnaire, administered and subsequent ly re-administered after two weeks (test -retest ) to all part icipants, assessed physicians level of abilit ies, skills and competencies regarding different domains of quality of health care. The quest ionnaire included 37 items grouped into 6 subscales/ domains. Answers for each item of the inst rument ranged from one ( novice physicians) to five ( expert physicians). An overall summary score (range: 37-185) and a subscale score for each domain were calculated for the test and retest procedures. Cronbach s alpha was employed to assess the reliability (internal consistency) for both the test and the retest procedures, whereas Spearman s rho was used to assess the test-retest reliability (stability over t ime) of the tool. Results: Among policymakers, the inst rument exhibited a higher internal consistency (Cronbach s alpha was 0.97 for the test and 0.96 for the retest procedure) compared to family physicians (0.89 and 0.88, respect ively). Subscale coefficients, however, were not very different in each group. In part icular, the pat ient care and safety domain behaved similarly in both groups for the test and the retest procedure. Overall, stability over t ime of the instrument was slight ly higher among policymakers (Spearman s rho: 0.87, P<0.01) compared to practit ioners (Spearman s rho: 0.83, P<0.01). Except the cont inuing professional development domain, for all the other subscales, the testretest reliabilit y coefficients were higher among policymakers than pract it ioners. Conclusion: Our findings point to an adequate internal consistency (for both the test and retest procedures) and stability over t ime (test -retest reliabilit y) in this sample of family physicians and policymakers in Kosovo. From this perspect ive, this validat ion study provides useful evidence on cross-cultural adaptat ion of an internat ional inst rument measuring the level of competencies of family physicians in Kosovo. Seemingly, the inst rument indicates a good potent ial for wide scale applicat ion to policymakers and especially to nat ionally representat ive samples of family physicians in t ransit ional Kosovo.