Palliative care knowledge test for nurses and physicians: validation and cross-cultural adaptation

Abstract

Background: Palliative care knowledge is essential in primary healthcare due to the increasing number of patients who require attention in the final stage of their life. Health professionals (physicians and nurses) need to acquire specific knowledge and abilities to provide high-quality palliative care. The development of education programmes in palliative care is necessary. The Palliative Care Knowledge Test (PCKT) is a questionnaire that evaluates the basic knowledge about palliative care, but it has not been adapted into Spanish, and its effectiveness and utility for Spanish culture have not been analysed.

Objective: The aim of this study was to report the translation into Spanish and a psychometric analysis of the PCKT.

Methods: The questionnaire survey was validated with a group of 561 physicians and nurses. The PCKT Spanish Version (PCKT-SV) was obtained from a process, including translation, back translation and revision by experts and a pilot study. The content validity and reliability of the questionnaire were analysed.

Results: The results showed internal consistency and reliability indexes similar to those obtained by the original version of PCKT.

Conclusion: The PCKT-SV is a useful instrument for measuring Spanish-speaking physician and nurse knowledge of palliative care, and it is suitable to evaluate the effectiveness of training activities in palliative care.

Keywords: education and training; terminal care.