Adaptation of Intercultural Sensitivity Scale for Turkish medical students

Health care professions, especially physicians and physician candidates should be more competent in culture-specific approach. This study aims to verify the validity and reliability of the “Intercultural Sensitivity Scale” developed by Chen and Starosta (which is the most frequently-used tool while conducting the intercultural sensitivity research) among Turkish medical students. In order to demonstrate the construct validity of the scale, exploratory factor analysis based on polychoric correlation was applied together with the oblique rotation method, and first and second order confirmatory factor analysis based on polychoric correlations was applied to confirm the factor structure of the scale. Cronbach’s alpha and Spearman-Brown coefficients, were calculated to assess the reliability of the scale. Of the participants (n = 667), 52.6% were female and mean age was 24.2 ± 1.4. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the whole scale was 0.906. The Spearman-Brown coefficients for the whole scale and its sub-dimensions show that reliability values were also sufficient. According to the results of first and second order confirmatory factor analysis, fit indices demonstrated a very good model fit. These results confirmed that the scale consisting of 23-items and 5-dimensions is a valid and reliable tool and can be used for Grade V and VI Turkish medical students. It is considered that integrating intercultural sensitivity training in undergraduate education of physicians would help to increase the number of physicians who are sensitive to different cultures and thus contribute to reducing disparities in healthcare provision.