The Development of a Knowledge Test on Transgender Patients' Care

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 17; no. 19; p. 7192
• Main Authors: Hernández-Agosto, Jonathan, Melin, Kyle, Rosa-Vega, Jurynelliz, Carlo-Frontera, Edgar, Rodríguez-Ochoa, Andrés, Santiago-Quiñones, Darlene
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.10.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Clinical Competence; Communication; Community Pharmacy Services; Continuing education; Curricula; Drug stores; Education; Gender identity; Health disparities; Humans; Knowledge; Patients; Performance evaluation; Pharmaceuticals; Pharmacists; Professionals; Psychometrics; Research methodology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Transgender Persons; Validity; United States > US; Puerto Rico; test validation; pharmacy education; transgender care; continuing education; transgender
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17197192

The objective of this study was to develop an assessment instrument to measure the effects of a continuing education intervention on 3 domains in pharmacists' knowledge needed to provide pharmaceutical care for transgender patients: (1) foundations of gender-affirming care, (2) health disparities and the specific needs of transgender patients, and (3) hormone treatments for transgender patients. Multiple-choice questions were developed, and an initial item bank of 47 items was drafted. Item bank revision was conducted by content matter experts, while feedback from 8 practicing pharmacists was provided for face validity and further insights. A preliminary test, containing 42 items was administered to 64 pharmacists before and after a three-hour continuing education intervention. Cronbach's alpha coefficient yielded a value of 0.65 as a pre-test and 0.77 as a post-test. Items were less difficult to answer by participants after taking the three-hour continuing education, showing better discrimination among high and low performers in the instrument administration as post-test, as well as better correlation when comparing participants' performance in the overall score against item-level performance. Psychometric evidence supports further instrument examination, which can improve this tool to measure gains in pharmacists' knowledge related to the care of transgender patients.