Cultivating Excellence: Development and Validation of a Bilingual Competency Self- Assessment Tool for Infection Control Practitioners

Abstract

Background The study aimed at to develop and validate a competency self-assessment tool for infection control practitioners. Methods Study performed from December/2021 to June/2023. The development of this bilingual tool (Portuguese and English), followed four stages: 1) establishment of the conceptual framework and item generation; 2) content validation; 3) validation of the response process; and 4) validation of the internal structure. The first stage followed the World Health Organization guidance “Core competencies for infection prevention and control professionals”. In the stage two, the Content Validity Ratio (CVR_critic) was used, conducted with participation of 13 experts. For the stage three, 30 Portuguese and 30 English infection control practitioners speakers assessed whether the tool was intelligible. The stage four was performed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with a convenience sample made up of 645 Portuguese and 620 English-speaking infection control practitioners. To evaluate the internal consistency, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was considered as satisfactory when higher than 0.80. Results: 118 items were generated in both languages. After experts validation, 63 items in Portuguese and 70 in English obtained a CVR > 0.769. No changes in the items were required. Finally, the Portuguese tool was organized into five areas, 36 items with Cronbach's alpha coefficient between 0.89 and 0.97; the English tool was organized into five areas, 37 items and a Cronbach's alpha coefficient between 0.91 and 0.98. Conclusions: The bilingual tool gathers evidence of content validity and validation of the internal structure. This tool is intended for self-assessment of the competencies of infection control practitioners, mainly Portuguese and English speakers.