ABSTRACT
Background: A central aspect of professional identity is occupational commitment, which has a significant relationship with motivation and positive mental states in healthcare environments. However, it is not clear how occupational commitment is related to teaching practices in universities. Aim: To apply the Occupational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) to university teachers and relate its results with the Teaching Practices Questionnaire. Material and Methods: OCQ and Teaching Practices Questionnaire were answered by 319 university teachers from 13 Chilean regions, who were selected through a non-probabilistic volunteer sampling. Data collection was done after informed consent. An exploratory factor analysis was performed for OCQ. The internal consistency of each factor was calculated with Cronbach's Alpha. Spearman correlations were used to explore the relationship between the two questionnaires. Results: Two factors were identified in OCQ, namely Teacher Commitment and Ethical-Professional Commitment. Cronbach's Alpha was 0.85 for both factors. A moderate direct relationship between teacher commitment, ethical-professional commitment, and the Teaching Practices Questionnaire was found. Conclusions: OCQ showed an adequate internal consistency, and it was directly related with teaching practices. Committed teachers had better teaching practices. This confirms the importance of teachers' values and perceptions on their professional performance.
Subject(s)
Humans , Faculty , Motivation , Teaching , Universities , Surveys and Questionnaires , Delivery of Health CareABSTRACT
Background: Occupational identity is defined as the perception of occupational interests, abilities, goals, and values, and the structure of the meanings that link these self-perceptions to career role. We developed an occupational identity questionnaire suitable to be used with university teachers. Aim: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Occupational Identity Questionnaire (OIQ) and relate its results with those of the Teaching Practices questionnaire. Material and Methods. The OIQ and Teaching Practices Questionnaire were answered by 311 university teachers along Chile, who were selected through a non-probabilistic volunteer sampling. An exploratory factor analysis was performed and the internal consistency of each factor was calculated with Cronbach's Alpha. Spearman correlations were used to explore the relationship between the two questionnaires. Results: Two factors were identified in OIQ: Teaching Vocation and Sense of Competence. Cronbach's Alpha was 0.75 for teaching vocation and 0.82 for the sense of competence. There was a moderate direct relationship between teaching vocation, sense of competence and the results of the Teaching Practices Questionnaire. Conclusions: OIS has an adequate internal consistency, its factorial structure showed two different types of identities and it is directly related to the results of the Teaching Practices Questionnaire.