Development and preliminary validation of the competency model for rural general practitioner in China

Background: There is a shortage of rural general practitioners (GPs) in China. Training programs have been initiated to meet the needs of GP workforce in the rural areas; however, there is an absence of validated tool to assess their competencies. Objective: This study aimed to develop a competency model for rural general practitioner (CMRGP) after training in China and to examine its validity and reliability. Methods: A multistage process was adopted to develop the CMRGP comprised literature review, panel discussion and expert consultation, and the initial version of CMRGP was reduced from 10 domains and 77 items to 7 domains and 54 items. A pilot study was conducted among 202 rural GPs for the psychometric evaluation and application of the initial version of CMRGP, in which a questionnaire on the importance of items and self-evaluation was completed by the GPs. Results: In the pilot study, 132 completed questionnaires (65.3%) were returned. Acceptability and face validity of the CMRGP were supported by high importance scores of the items, in which 52 out of 54 items achieved score higher than 4.00 (possible score from 0 to 5). Factor analysis supported the construct validity. After the modification, the final version of CMRGP contained 6 domains and 47 items. Good reliability was supported by internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's u. was 0.98) and split-half reliability (Spearman-Brown coefficient was 0.99). Conclusions: The CMRGP demonstrated good reliability and validity. Pilot study showed its potential for application in the rural general practice and training program.