Psychometric features of the Patient-Centered Communication Scale among Iranian clinical nurses

BACKGROUND: Measuring patient-centered communication seems essential from the perspective of nurses as the primary healthcare providers. The Patient-Centered Communication Scale (PCCS) is one of the instruments that makes it possible to achieve this goal. Therefore, since no version apart from the original version of this instrument has been psychometrically tested in other countries, including Iran, this study aimed to culturally adapt and psychometrically evaluate the PCCS in Iranian clinical nurses. METHODS: The current methodological study was conducted in hospitals associated with Shahroud University of Medical Sciences. Content validity was examined through qualitative and quantitative methods by specialists in patient-centered communication and nurse-patient communication. Factor analysis, including exploratory and confirmatory approaches, was employed to determine the factor structure and model fit of the Persian version of the PCCS. The convenience sampling approach enabled the achievement of the aforementioned goal by collecting two independent samples of 150 qualified clinical nurses each, totaling 300 qualified clinical nurses. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega coefficients, while external stability was quantified by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). RESULTS: The expert panel's comments suggested deleting item 4 due to substantial conceptual overlap with item 5. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a single factor with an eigenvalue of 8.56, explaining 77.78% of the entire variance of the Persian version of this scale. Confirmatory factor analysis also supported the single-factor structure of the Persian version of the mentioned scale. The Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega coefficients exceeded 0.70, indicating satisfactory internal consistency, while the ICC value exceeded 0.80, showing favorable external stability. CONCLUSION: The favorable psychometric features suggest the use of the Persian version of the mentioned scale to identify factors related to this concept in clinical settings and determine the effectiveness of various interventions to promote this specific type of communication. However, the single-center data collection constrains the generalizability of the findings to clinical nurses employed in medical centers linked to other Iranian universities of medical sciences and non-university facilities, including private medical centers.