Adaptation and reliability of the readiness for inter professional learning scale (RIPLS) in the Chinese health care students setting.

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) primarily aims to enhance collaborative skills and to improve the awareness of teamwork and collaborative competencies of health care students. The Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) was used to assess such skills. The aim of this study was to adapt a Chinese version of the RIPLS among Chinese health care students and to test the psychometric properties of the modified instrument.

METHODS: The questionnaire was translated following a two-step process, comprising forward and backward translations and a pilot test. The Chinese version was tested on a group of students from various health care professions. Cronbach's α coefficients were calculated for each of the four factors and also for the entire questionnaire in order to evaluate the internal consistency of the Chinese version of the RIPLS.

RESULTS: Of the 295 health care students surveyed, 282 (96.5%) completed the questionnaire. Cronbach's α coefficient for the overall scale was 0.842. Internal consistencies within each factor were good (α > 0.70) except for the factor "Roles and Responsibilities", where α = 0.216. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the data fit the four-factor structure.

CONCLUSION: The Chinese version of the RIPLS was an acceptable instrument for evaluating the attitudes of the health care students in China. The factor "Roles and Responsibilities" requires further scrutiny and development, at least in the Chinese context.