Strides in Development of Medical Education

Designing a Valid and Reliable Tool for Assessing Academic Educational Environment in Health Schools of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Mandana Shirazi 1
Teamur Aghamolaei 2
Ideh Dadgaran 3
Amin Ghanbarnejad 4

1 Ph.D. in Medical Education, Associate Professor, Department of Medical Education, Medical Education Development Center, Virtual School AND School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 M.Sc. Student in Medical Education, Virtual School, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran & Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, School of Health, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran

3 Ph.D. in Nursing Education, Assistant Professor, Medical Education Research Center, Medical Education Development Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran

4 Ph.D. in Biostatistics, Lecturer, Department of Public Health, School of Health, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran

Abstract
  Background & Objective: Educational environment is an important determinant in success of a curriculum The quality of educational environment is one of the elements of effective learning The aim of this study was designing a valid and reliable tool for assessing academic educational environment in schools of health   Methods: Using a theoretical sampling method eight students and three faculty members of School of Health Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences (Iran) were interviewed and 81 items related to educational environment were extracted These items were classified in six domains including school atmosphere teaching faculty members students educational equipments and facilities and physical environment Expert panels and assessing item impact were used to determine face validity and content validity ratio and index were used to determine content validity of the tool To determine its construct validity 250 students in completed the questionnaires and confirmatory factor analysis was applied Reliability of the tool was determined by Cronbachs Alpha and intracluster correlation coefficient   Results: Due to expert panel and calculating item impact and content validity ratio and index the tool items decreased from 81 to 56 The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that all of factor loadings were significant in level of 005 Cronbachs Alpha for total items was 094 and for six domains ranged from 065 to 085 Moreover intracluster correlation coefficient for total items was 094 Conclusion: The designed tool has good validity and reliability and can be used as a suitable tool for assessing academic educational environment in schools of health

Keywords

Educational environment
School of health
Questionnaire
Validity
Reliability
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Strides in Development of Medical Education
Volume 11, Issue 1
2014
Pages 45-54

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