Construct validity, responsiveness, and demographic predictors of the inventory for assessing the process of cultural competence among healthcare professionals - student version (IAPCC-SV©)

The IAPCC-SV© measures the cultural competence of student healthcare professionals. However, the psychometric properties of the instrument have not been documented for student physical therapists. The purpose of this study was to document the IAPCC-SV's© construct validity, responsiveness, and demographic predictor variables. Student physical therapists in the State of Texas (n=303) participated in this study. The IAPCC-SV's© construct validity was examined via factor analysis. The instrument's responsiveness was assessed by comparing IAPCC-SV© post-test scores of the control (professional behaviors module) and experimental (cultural competence module) groups, while controlling for pre-test score. Regression analysis was used to determine if the cultural composite survey score predicted IAPCC-SV© score, and majority/minority status, over and above cultural composite score, predicted IAPCC-SV© score. The alpha level was set at p<.05 for all tests of significance. This investigation identified a 3 factor structure, as opposed to the proposed 5 factor structure, for the IAPCC-SV©. The instrument was responsive to changes in students' cultural competence as evidenced by significantly higher post-test scores of the experimental group (cultural competence module) when compared to the control group (professional behaviors module) F1.32=26.56; p<.001. Majority/minority status was not a significant predictor of IAPCC-SV© score over and above cultural composite score F1.270=2.66; p=.11. Cultural composite score was a significant predictor of IAPCC-SV© score, R2=.22, F1,271=77.16; p<.01. This investigation did not support the proposed 5 factor structure of the IAPCC-SV©; however, there was preliminary support for several of the proposed factors. The IAPCC-SV's© responsiveness to changes in student physical therapists' cultural competence suggests it may be an appropriate instrument to use as an outcome measure with student physical therapists. Although the cultural composite score predicted IAPCC-SV© score, additional research is necessary to identify other predictors of IAPCC-SV© score, since the percent of variance accounted for by the cultural composite score was low.