Self-assessment questionnaire for family doctors’ assessment of quality improvement competencies: a cross-cultural adaptation in Slovenia

Aim: To perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the Quality Improvement Competency Self Assessment (QICS) questionnaire for family physicians into the Slovenian language and to validate it in a representative sample of Slovenian FPs.

Methods: This cross-sectional observational postal survey was conducted in a random sample of 398 Slovenian FPs. We used the QICS questionnaire that was developed on the basis of the new Quality Improvement Competency Framework for family medicine. The QICS questionnaire consists of 37 items included in six domains. The questions can be answered on a five-point Likert scale. The validity of the translation was provided by the backward translation from Slovenian to the English language and by the reference group consisting of experienced FPs in the consensus process. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Spearman rho to determine the test-retest reliability (the questionnaire was sent to the physicians in the sample twice in a period of two weeks).

Results: The final sample consisted of 100 (25.1%) family physicians, out of which 71 (71.0%) were women. Mean age of the sample was 43.3 ± 9.6 years. Mean score of the QICS questionnaire was 127.0 ± 30.1 points (first round) and 127.8 ± 30.6 points (second round). Cronbach’s alpha scores were 0.984 (first round) and 0.988 (second round). Spearman’s rho for the summary score of the whole scale was 0.829 with p < 0.001.

Conclusion: The Slovenian version of the QICS questionnaire proved to be a valid and reliable tool for selfassessment of quality improvement competencies by FPs in terms of continuous professional development.