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1254 Validation of the perceived self-efficacy scale on advance care planning in Latin America

bmjspcare · 2025-09-09 · canonical JSON source

2 visible annotations · policy: published · automated confidence ≥ 75.00%

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Introduction Advanced care planning (ACP) is a structured communication process that enhances patient autonomy in future healthcare decisions. In the context of advanced chronic illnesses, exploring and documenting patients’ values and care preferences becomes essential. Health professionals must overcome communication barriers and strengthen their self-efficacy—the belief in one’s ability to plan and execute actions to manage future scenarios. Perceived self-efficacy is a key predictor of successful learning processes, behavioral change, and effective SCP implementation.Objectives To culturally and linguistically adapt the Argentine Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale on Advance Care Planning for use among Latin American healthcare professionals and to validate its psychometric properties.Methods An exploratory instrumental study was conducted with healthcare professionals across Latin America. The Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale on Advance Care Planning (ACP-SAr) underwent collaborative evaluation with 21 experts from 12 countries, following international cross-cultural adaptation protocols. Two rounds of review were conducted until consensus was achieved. The final version was then tested with a diverse sample to assess validity and reliability. Content Validity Coefficient (CVC) and Cronbach’s Alpha (≥0.7) were used to determine content validity and internal consistency, respectively, ensuring methodological rigor and clinical relevance.Results The expert panel was 71.4% female, averaging 49 and 21 years of palliative care experience. The validated scale was applied to 685 professionals from 18 Latin American countries (79.3% female; mean age: 45; mean professional experience: 14 years). Of these, 92.8% had experience with advanced chronic illness care, and 72.7% reported knowledge of ACP.Seven items were revised to improve semantic precision, conceptual clarity, and cultural inclusivity, with adjustments to enhance comprehension and remove linguistic bias.Psychometric analysis revealed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.9734), with all items scoring above 0.9. Content validity indicators confirmed strong expert agreement, supporting the scale’s overall validity.Conclusions The ACP-LATAM scale demonstrated strong psychometric properties, supporting its use in the Latin American context.Unique Contribution This is the first culturally adapted and validated tool to assess perceived self-efficacy in Advance Care Planning across Latin America.Implications This validated instrument enables the exploration of self-efficacy in ACP and the generation of regional data to inform practice and policy in palliative care.