Thank you for your interest in the Health Communication Assessment Tool (HCAT).
HCAT is intended for use in clinical simulations to evaluate the communication skills of student and professional healthcare providers: RN, MD, DO, APRN, PA, etc. by faculty, peers, and participants.
The development of HCAT began in 2006 by Dr. Suzanne Hetzel Campbell, Dr. Eileen O’Shea and Dr. Michael Pagano at Fairfield University. It was first used on a small sample of nursing students. Resulting psychometric analysis showed that the tool demonstrates internal consistency and is useful in evaluating communication behaviors.
HCAT has also been tested interprofessionally and internationally by over 200 expert and novice educators from 11 countries, revealing excellent interrater reliability for the average measures. Exploratory factor analysis showed a five-factor model with the following themes: empathic behaviors, introduction behaviors, trust building behaviors, patient/family education behaviors, and power-sharing behaviors.
Through continued revision, HCAT is now a 22-item Likert-scale instrument and is ready for field (wide-scale) testing. We are currently collaborating with nurse educators locally (British Columbia) and internationally (Brazil) to further evaluate HCAT with their nursing students. The HCAT Research Project at UBC is spearheaded by Dr. Suzanne Hetzel Campbell, Director of the UBC School of Nursing.
For more information about HCAT, please refer to the following journal articles:
1. O’Shea, E. R., Pagano, M., Campbell, S. H., & Caso, G. (2013, January). A descriptive analysis of nursing student communication behaviors. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 9(1), e5-e12. doi:10.1016/j.ecns.2011.05.013.
2. Campbell, S. H., Pagano, M. P., O’Shea, E. R., Connery, C., & Caron, C. (2013, Month). Development of
the Health Communication Assessment Tool: Enhancing Relationships, Empowerment, and Power-
Sharing Skills. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, Vol(X), xx-xx. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.ecns.2013.04.016.
3. Pagano, M. P., O’Shea, E. R., Campbell, S. H., Currie, L. M., Chamberlin, E., & Pates, C. A. (2015,
September). Validating the health communication assessment tool (HCAT). Clinical Simulation in
Nursing, 11(9), 402-410. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2015.06.001.
For ongoing HCAT research in Canada, please contact:
Khristine G. Carino, PhD, DMD
Research Program Manager for Dr. Suzanne H. Campbell
UBC School of Nursing
khristine.carino(at)ubc.ca