Development of the Attitudes Toward Osteopathic Principles and Practice Scale (ATOPPS): Preliminary Results

Russo, David P., Development of the Attitudes Toward Osteopathic Principles and Practice Scale (ATOPPS): Preliminary Results. Master of Public Health, May 2002, 11 pp., 2 tables, bibliography, 19 titles. Little is known about how student attitudes toward osteopathic principles and practice (OPP) develop and evolve over the course of their osteopathic medical education. Interviews were conducted with osteopathic medical students, osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) residents, fellows, and physician specialists. These interviews were summarized in a 39-item instrument administered to 127 students at the completion of their core OMM rotation at UNTHSC-TCOM. Factor analysis of student responses to the 39 candidate items yielded two interpretable factors. 14 of the original 39 statements were eliminated and the smaller second factor was dropped. Factor 1 contained items reflecting both positive and negative attitudes toward the application OPP in patient care, medical education, and professional distinctiveness. Two internal consistency estimates of reliability were computer for the revised 25-item ATOPPS. Estimates for the split-half coefficients for part 1 were .89, for part 2 was .87; the Spearman-Brown coefficient alpha was .93