Medwave. 2025 May 9;25(4):e3032. doi: 10.5867/medwave.2025.04.3032.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: There is a need for a validated instrument that assesses the perception of competencies and the level of preparedness of professionals and technicians who perform telehealth care in Chile.
OBJECTIVE: To develop and evaluate the reliability and validity of an instrument designed to measure the perception of competencies and the level of preparedness in telehealth.
METHODS: An instrument on telehealth competencies and level of preparedness was designed, obtaining content validity through expert judgement. The instrument was then administered in 2023 to a total of 83 healthcare professionals and technicians with telehealth experience. To determine construct validity, exploratory factor analysis was conducted, extracting factors using Principal Axes and estimating the number of factors by combining Horn’s Parallel Analysis and scree plot. Rotation was performed using the Oblimin method. To estimate reliability, Cronbach’s Alpha statistic was calculated.
RESULTS: The factor analysis identified items with loadings over 0.6, resulting in a final scale of two factors with a total of 31 items. This factorial model explained 75.5% of the total variance. The first factor brings together items assessing perceptions of telehealth competencies, and the second factor assesses perceptions of the level of telehealth preparedness. Both factors show adequate reliability indicators, with Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.98 and 0.97 respectively, and present correlations considered adequate.
CONCLUSIONS: The instrument has adequate psychometric indicators, even considering the sample size, to measure the perception of competencies and level of preparation in telehealth in health professionals and technicians in the Biobío region. The two factors that make up the instrument help identify training and education needs. It is suggested to extend the validation to samples from other regions and to increase the diversity of clinical disciplines.
PMID:40344684 | DOI:10.5867/medwave.2025.04.3032
