PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE UNDERGRADUATE CLINICAL EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT MEASURE UCEEM IN IRANIAN NURSING AND MIDWIFERY STUDENTS

Abstract

Background: Students’ perceptions of the educational environment are an important construct in assessing and enhancing the quality of medical training programs. Reliable and valid measurement, however, can be problematic especially as instruments developed and tested in one culture are translated for use in another. Materials and method: This study sought to explore the psychometric properties of the undergraduate Clinical Educational Environment Measure (UCEEM) for use in Iranian nursing and midwifery students. We translated the instrument into Persian and ensured its content validity by back translation and expert review prior to administering it to 215 nursing and midwifery Students Tehran Medical Sciences branch Islamic Azad University.Results: One hundred and ninety seven questionnaires were analyzed. The factor analysis yielded four factors: F1: Opportunists to learn in and through work and Quality of supervision (8 items), F2Preparedness for student entry (8 items), and F3: Workplace interaction patterns and student inclusion Supervision (7 items), F4: Equal treatment (2) items. All correlations were r>0.3. Pearson’s correlation coefficients indicated that the relationships between subscales conformed to the theoretical model. Coefficients for subscales ranged between 0.27 and 0.75. All correlations were significant (p<0.005). The equal treatment subscale had a lower correlation with the other subscales (range 0.27–0.36).Relationships between the other three subscales varied between 0.53 and 0.75 and the reliabilities (Cranach’s α) of the items  was 0.93. Conclusion: The Persian version of the UCEEM appears to be a reliable and potentially valid instrument for use in Iranian nursing and midwifery schools and may find favor in evaluating the educational environments of nursing and midwifery programs nationwid