Validation of the Romanian Communication Skills Ability Scale – CSAS-RO – A Tool for Medical Schools

Abstract

In medicine ability to communicate requires training and continuous development. Aim To validate the Communication Skills Ability Scale in Romanian. Study design: cross-sectional observational interrupted large case series. Sample and setting: all year 5 medical undergraduate students enrolled at UMF Carol Davila, Bucharest (UMFCD). A two field tests study: 1) 2nd semester of the 2017/2018 academic year (n = 361); 2) 2018/2019 academic year (n = 703). Methodology The Romanian translation of CSAS® was used. Results The CSAS-RO confirms the 2-Factor scale; internal consistency: Cronbach-α coefficient was 0.894 for the PAS (0.870 CSAS®) and 0.754 for the NAS (0.805 CSAS®) All item-total and item-rest correlations satisfied the criterion of more than 0.30, ranging from 0.32 to 0.71 with the exception of items 17 (field test 1) and item 11 (field test 2) Conclusion CSAS-RO is valid to use with medical students. The reuse of the scale with a longitudinal study design will allow to assess any new educational needs for communication ability in medical students plus add the remaining property to test (the test-retest reliability).