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A preliminary study for the development of a scale to assess perceptions about physicians.

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to develop a scale that can be used to assess the perceptions of the community about physicians and their medical practice.


METHODS
A Likert-type scale was developed and applied to 220 subjects twice within a 7-10 day interval. Internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability were used as indicators of the reliability of the scale.


RESULTS
Chronbach's alpha values obtained from two reliability tests were 0.82 and 0.83, respectively, and correlation coefficient between the two tests was 0.61. The mean value of items indicated that perceptions about physicians were between "negative" and "neutral".


CONCLUSIONS
The reliability of this scale was found to be at acceptable levels and therefore it can be used to assess the perceptions of people from different social classes about physicians.