Measuring interprofessional education and collaborative practice competencies: a content validity study of the Jefferson Teamwork Observation Guide?

Collaborative practice (CP) is integral in meeting the Quadruple Aim of healthcare, with effective team-based practice linked to improving all four components. Evidence of the validity of tools measuring collaborative practice competencies is lacking in educational and practice settings. The Jefferson Teamwork Observation Guide (R) (JTOG (R)), a real-time, 360-degree competency-based assessment tool administered via mobile app, provides formative feedback to learners in educational settings and helps practitioners develop and refine team-based behaviors in clinical settings. This study examines content validity evidence in terms of the linkage of JTOG items with the four Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) core competencies, along with two additional domains of leadership and patient-centeredness. Results provide content validity evidence to support use of the JTOG in interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) settings. The Teams and Teamwork competency was linked with every item, which is consistent with JTOG as a measure of teamwork. Aligning with the 2016 IPEC update, the JTOG items are all intercorrelated and together represent coverage across all competency areas. While items were typically linked to multiple competencies, each item only had one primary linkage. Analyses revealed that there is sufficient evidence of content validity relative to the intended IPCP competencies, and the JTOG tool is promising in its role to fill a gap in extant literature to measure collaborative practice behaviors.