Medical professionalism: development and validation of the Arabian LAMPS

Abstract

AIM: The attributes of the professional physicians varies among cultures. This study aims to develop and validate a questionnaire that measures attitudes of medical students on professionalism in the Arabian context. METHOD: Thirty-two experts contributed to item generation in particular domains. The instrument was administered to Arabian medical students and interns and responses were collected using five-point Likert scales. Data were analyzed to estimate the reliability of the instrument. The inventory in its final version was labeled as the Learners' Attitude of Medical Professionalism Scale (LAMPS). RESULTS: A total of 413 medical students and interns responded from two universities in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Means of item response ranged from 2.38 to 4.72. The highest mainly deals with "Respect to others," while the lowest belong to "Honor/Integrity." The final version of the LAMPS has 28 items in five domains, with a reliability of 0.79. DISCUSSION: The LAMPS has salient features compared to other similar instrument. It was designed based on a reliable framework in explicit behavioral items, not abstract attributes of professionalism. The LAMPS can help teachers to identify learning gaps regarding professionalism amongst their students and track attitude changes over time or as the result of interventions. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, the LAMPS is the first context-specific inventory on medical professionalism attitudes in the Arabian context