OBJECTIVE: To examine the validity and the reliability of three measurement instruments used to evaluate mental health training offered to residents in family medicine. DESIGN: Development and submission of three French-language instruments measuring knowledge, perceived skills, and attitudes of family physicians and residents. SETTING: Weekly psychotherapy workshop. PARTICIPANTS: A group of 90 family medicine residents and practising doctors were recruited by the authors and by teaching facilities. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Reliability index KR20 and an evaluation of error in the instruments were used. RESULTS: The results satisfactory in terms of the measurement of perceived skills (KR20 = 0.86) and the measurement of attitudes (KR20 = 0.96); the measurement of knowledge (KR20 = 0.70) was clearly unsatisfactory and the instrument will require upgrading. The measurement of perceived skills was the only one to reveal a distinction between the groups; practising doctors and those interested in psychotherapy believed their skills to be superior to those of residents in training (P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: Instruments measuring attitudes and perceived skills have excellent psychometric potential; however, it remains to be determined whether the measurement of perceived skills is valid and whether these instruments are useful for monitoring family medicine residents during their training or for assessing the impact of mental health training programs.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the validity and the reliability of three measurement instruments used to evaluate mental health training offered to residents in family medicine. DESIGN: Development and submission of three French-language instruments measuring knowledge, perceived skills, and attitudes of family physicians and residents. SETTING: Weekly psychotherapy workshop. PARTICIPANTS: A group of 90 family medicine residents and practising doctors were recruited by the authors and by teaching facilities. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Reliability index KR20 and an evaluation of error in the instruments were used. RESULTS: The results satisfactory in terms of the measurement of perceived skills (KR20 = 0.86) and the measurement of attitudes (KR20 = 0.96); the measurement of knowledge (KR20 = 0.70) was clearly unsatisfactory and the instrument will require upgrading. The measurement of perceived skills was the only one to reveal a distinction between the groups; practising doctors and those interested in psychotherapy believed their skills to be superior to those of residents in training (P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: Instruments measuring attitudes and perceived skills have excellent psychometric potential; however, it remains to be determined whether the measurement of perceived skills is valid and whether these instruments are useful for monitoring family medicine residents during their training or for assessing the impact of mental health training programs.