Design and validation of a scale to assess latin american medical students’ perception on the labour of the first level of health care

<p>Objectives. To design and validate a scale to assess Latin American medical students’ perception on first level of health<br>care (FLHC). Materials and methods. An observational, analytic and multicentre study was carried out in two phases: i) A<br>self-administered questionnaire regarding perceptions on FLHClabor was designed. ii) This questionnaire was applied to to<br>medical students from 18 universities of eight Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA)<br>was performed through a principal components analysis with orthogonal varimax rotation. Sample adequacy was evaluated.<br>Factor extraction was based on Kaiser’s criteria, Cattell’s Scree test and the explained variance (>5%). Internal consistency was<br>measured with Cronbach’s alpha. Results. 423 students were included in the analysis; 53.4% were from Peruvian universities.<br>After the EFA, the questionnaire conserved 11 items, which were distributed in three domains, that explaining together 55.47% of<br>the total variance: i) Perceptions concerning the FLHC physician; ii) Perceptions concerning the FiLC labor and iii) Perceptions<br>about the economic consequences of working in FLHC. Conclusion. The scale is composed by three domains and can be used<br>to assess the perceptions of the medical work on first level of health care of Spanish-speaking Latin American medical students.</p> <p> </p

Flowchart of participants included in the study: Gender and the intention to choose a specialty in medical students from 11 countries of Latin America.

<p>Flowchart of participants included in the study: Gender and the intention to choose a specialty in medical students from 11 countries of Latin America.</p

Favorable perceptions of Latin American medical students on Primary Care (PC) labor: Differences between countries according to each factor of the PC labor perceptions’ scale.

<p>Favorable perceptions of Latin American medical students on Primary Care (PC) labor: Differences between countries according to each factor of the PC labor perceptions’ scale.</p

Association between female gender and intention to choose a particular medical specialty in medical students of 11 countries of Latin America.

<p>Association between female gender and intention to choose a particular medical specialty in medical students of 11 countries of Latin America.</p

Favorable perceptions on Primary Care: Multivariate models on differences between countries.

<p>Favorable perceptions on Primary Care: Multivariate models on differences between countries.</p

Flowchart of the study participants: Differences in Primary Care labor perceptions among medical students from 11 Latin American countries.

<p>^a Total estimate of Medical Students from first and fifth year in participant Schools. ^b Surveys declared as invalidly or inappropriately fulfilled after revision.</p

Characteristics of Latin American medical students included according to their perceptions on Primary Care labor.

<p>Characteristics of Latin American medical students included according to their perceptions on Primary Care labor.</p

Proportions of intention to choose a particular medical specialty according to year of study and its direction of change in medical students of 11 countries of Latin America.

<p>Proportions of intention to choose a particular medical specialty according to year of study and its direction of change in medical students of 11 countries of Latin America.</p

Sociodemographic characteristics according to gender in medical students of 11 countries of Latin America.

<p>Sociodemographic characteristics according to gender in medical students of 11 countries of Latin America.</p

Frequency of intention to choose a particular specialty according to gender in medical students of 11 countries of Latin America.

<p>Frequency of intention to choose a particular specialty according to gender in medical students of 11 countries of Latin America.</p