Readiness for student practice education questionnaire : content validation

• Main Author: Sahota, Ranveer
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2014
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/46287

Student Practice Education is an important topic to clinical education. There has been little to no research assessing whether or not clinical units are prepared to host student practice education, nor has there been much research focused on how to evaluate readiness to host student practice education. The purpose of this study was to assess the content and face validity of an original questionnaire which will measure readiness to host student practice. The questionnaire includes concepts related to student practice education, such as communication processes, job descriptions, leadership structures, organizational goals, data collection and analysis and support. Data were collected via five focus groups, in which the items of the questionnaire were discussed with individuals in various leadership roles relating to student practice education. The questions were rated by the participants on a relevancy scale, which were later analyzed by calculating median scores. A thematic analysis was done of the focus group transcripts to identify themes related to student practice education infrastructure and processes. Median scores were calculated for the relevancy ratings and revealed that the questions of the survey were considered very relevant or essential to assess readiness to host student practice education. Content analysis also revealed four themes specific to student practice education: infrastructure for communication, lack of familiarity with leadership structure amongst health care professionals, job descriptions and lack of familiarity with organizational goals amongst health care professionals. Student practice education and health care are interconnected. The health care organization and clinical units provide experiential educational opportunities for students, in which effective leadership, communication and educational structures would be beneficial. More research on communication, leadership, and organizational infrastructure, in relation to student practice education could be beneficial in critically examining the health care system and readiness for student practice education.