Interpersonal Communication Assessment Scale: Psychometric Study of the Portuguese Version

This article is a report of a study exploring the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Interpersonal Communication Assessment Scale (ICAS) related to nursing education. Interpersonal communication in health care in general and in nursing care in particular is used to transmit messages between the members involved so as to convey a meaning in their interaction. The essence of nursing care is focused on the nurse–patient interpersonal communication. The validation of ICAS developed in 4 steps: translation, back translation, comparison of both versions, and evidence of the validity of Portuguese version. The psychometric study was carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The nonprobabilistic convenience sample was composed of 156 second-year students of the undergraduate nursing course (2008–2009). The psychometric analysis showed high values in Cronbach's alpha (ICAS: .939; advocacy: .857; therapeutic use of self: .890; and validation: .795), Pearson correlation (r = .740, P = .000), Bartlett's test of sphericity (2190.278, P = .000), and Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (.910). In general, the psychometric properties of the ICAS–Portuguese version are comparable to the original version. ICAS showed high internal consistency in reliability analysis and excellent temporal stability, thus an appropriate tool for assessing interpersonal communication skills.