Evaluation of the Evidence-Based practice Attitude and utilization SurvEy for complementary and alternative medicine practitioners

Rationale This paper describes the development of the Evidence-Based practice Attitude and utilization SurvEy (EBASE), which was designed to measure complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioner attitude to and utilization of evidence-based practice (EBP). Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the EBASE as a measure of CAM practitioner skill, attitude and use of EBP in order to adequately inform clinicians and researchers about this comprehensive survey tool. Methods EBASE and the clinical effectiveness and EBP questionnaire (EBPQ) were distributed to nine experts in CAM education, research, questionnaire design and/or EBP. Responses to these questionnaires were used to evaluate the content validity, convergent validity, test-retest reliability and internal consistency of EBASE. Results EBASE has found to have good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.84) and acceptable test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.578-0.986). The instrument also demonstrated good content validity (CVI = 0.899), and adequately measured practitioner skill and utilization of EBP when compared to the EBPQ. Conclusion The current study supports the validity and reliability of EBASE as a measure of CAM practitioner skill, attitude, experience and training in, as well as barriers and facilitating factors of EBP.