Transcultural Adaptation of the Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale (ICCS) in Spanish Health Sciences Undergraduate Students

Background: The communication skills of healthcare professionals directly impact patient interventions. Consequently, an improvement in healthcare quality indicators is observed. Objective: to adapt and validate the Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale (ICCS) in a Spanish university sample of health science students. Methods: A cross-sectional design was employed with a sample of 803 undergraduate students, utilizing the ICCS. Results: The structure and internal consistency of both the 30-item test and a short form version were analyzed. Additionally, factorial invariance, differential validity by gender, and the convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument were assessed. Benchmarks were also calculated. The complete scale, after removing five items, exhibited a total internal consistency of 0.721 and demonstrated a good fit to a hierarchical model with nine first-order factors and one second-order factor (GFI = 0.921, SRMR = 0.071). The 10-item short scale exhibited an internal consistency of 0.689 and fit a single-factor model (GFI = 0.977, SRMR = 0.059). Additionally, factorial invariance was established based on gender. Concerning convergent validity, the ICCS scales correlated with similar measures from the Social Skills Questionnaire and the Health Professional's Communication Skills Scale. Regarding differential validity, significant differences were found only in self-disclosure, empathy, and immediacy, with higher scores in all three cases for women. Conclusions: The Spanish version of the ICCS demonstrates good psychometric properties and is a valid tool for assessing interpersonal communication competencies, both generally and specifically within health sciences. Additionally, the establishment of benchmarks in the ICCS will enable future evaluators to identify the position of their assessors relative to a university sample.