Reliability of the Swedish version of the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale assessing physiotherapist’s attitudes to implementation of evidence-based practice

Abstract

Purpose To translate and apply a cross-cultural adaptation of the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS) in Swedish and investigate its absolute and relative reliability. Methods The original EBPAS (a questionnaire assessing health professionals’ attitudes to implementation of evidence-based practice) was translated into Swedish using a forward and backward procedure, including a group discussion and expert committee. To assess reliability, 55 physiotherapists (48 women) aged 23–64 years from different clinical settings in the Stockholm region answered the EBPAS by postal survey twice within an interval of 2 weeks. Results The Cronbach’s alpha values for EBPAS were >0.721. The intraclass correlation (ICC) between test and retest (relative reliability) was moderate to good for the four subscales, with ICC(A.1) and ICC(C.1) values approximately equal and in the range 0.56–0.89. Values for the absolute reliability of the mean score were a standard error of measurement of about 7% and a smallest real difference of about 19%. Conclusion The Swedish version of the EBPAS shows mainly good reliability.