Abstract

In two studies we constructed and validated the "Health Profession Communication Collective Efficacy Scale", designed to measure collective beliefs of the physicians about their hospital's capability to successfully manage, with the help of its various health workers, the problematic situations related to internal, external and with patients communication. The participants were hospital doctors (297 in the Study 1 and 563 in the Study 2), who were administrated a self-report questionnaire. The responses of the participants underwent Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and reliability and correlation analysis. The scale, consisting in 16 items, has a one-dimensional factor structure and excellent psychometric properties. In discussing the results, we highlight the potential applications of the instrument in training aiming to enhance the individual and collective skills of health professionals.