Development and evaluation of a questionnaire to measure the perceived implementation of the mission statement of a competency based curriculum.

BACKGROUND: A mission statement (MS) sets out the long-term goals of an institution and is supposed to be suited for studying learning environments. Yet, hardly any study has tested this issue so far. The aim of the present study was the development and psychometric evaluation of an MS-Questionnaire (MSQ) focusing on explicit competencies. We investigated to what extent the MSQ captures the construct of learning environment and how well a faculty is following--in its perception--a competency orientation in a competency-based curriculum. METHODS: A questionnaire was derived from the MS "teaching" (Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf) which was based on (inter-) nationally accepted goals and recommendations for a competency based medical education. The MSQ was administered together with the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) to 1119 students and 258 teachers. Cronbach's alpha was used to analyze the internal consistency of the items. Explorative factor analyses were performed to analyze homogeneity of the items within subscales and factorial validity of the MSQ. Item discrimination was assessed by means of part-whole corrected discrimination indices, and convergent validity was analyzed with respect to DREEM. Demographic variations of the respondents were used to analyze the inter-group variations in their responses. RESULTS: Students and teachers perceived the MS implementation as "moderate" and on average, students differed significantly in their perception of the MS. They thought implementation of the MS was less successful than faculty did. Women had a more positive perception of educational climate than their male colleagues and clinical students perceived the implementation of the MS on all dimensions significantly worse than preclinical students. The psychometric properties of the MSQ were very satisfactory: Item discrimination was high. Similarly to DREEM, the MSQ was highly reliable among students (α = 0.92) and teachers (α = 0.93). In both groups, the MSQ correlated highly positively with DREEM (r = 0.79 and 0.80, p < 0.001 each). Factor analyses did not reproduce the three areas of the MS perfectly. The subscales, however, could be identified as such both among teachers and students. CONCLUSIONS: The perceived implementation of faculty-specific goals can be measured in an institution to some considerable extent by means of a questionnaire developed on the basis of the institution's MS. Our MSQ provides a reliable instrument to measure the learning climate with a strong focus on competencies which are increasingly considered crucial in medical education. The questionnaire thus offers additional information beyond the DREEM. Our site-specific results imply that our own faculty is not yet fully living up to its competency-based MS. In general, the MSQ might prove useful for faculty development to the increasing number of faculties seeking to measure their perceived competency orientation in a competency-based curriculum.

Assessing the learning environment of a faculty: psychometric validation of the German version of the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure with students and teachers.

AIMS: The teachers' perspectives of the educational environment have as yet only been sparsely considered. This study aimed at validating the first German version of the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) from the points of view of both students and teachers. METHODS: Data from 1119 students and 258 teachers were available for analysis. Psychometric validation included the analysis of homogeneity and discrimination at item level as well as reliability (Cronbach's α), criterion and construct validity at test level. Effect sizes were calculated and the independent samples t-test was used for statistical inference testing of mean differences between two groups. RESULTS: Item characteristics were satisfactory in both samples. Reliability was high with α = 0.92 (students) and 0.94 (teachers), respectively. Factor analyses revealed five dimensions which slightly diverged from the five subscales postulated by the DREEM authors though. The environment was evaluated significantly (p < 0.001) more positively by teachers (M = 117.63) than by students (M = 109.75). Further significant differences were observed with regard to gender, mother language, stage of studies and previous professional training among others. CONCLUSIONS: With convincing psychometric properties at item and test levels, the suitability of DREEM not only for students but also for teachers to assess the educational environment has been demonstrated.

[The Inventory "State-Trait Operation Anxiety" (STOA): construction and empirical findings]. / Das Inventar "State-Trait-Operations-Angst" (STOA): Konstruktion und empirische Befunde.

This article reports on the construction and empirical evaluation of an instrument for the measurement of surgery-related state and trait anxiety. The inventory "State-Trait Operation Anxiety" (STOA) separately assesses surgery-related anxiety as a comparatively stable personality trait as well as the cognitive and affective components of state anxiety. Results of explorative and confirmatory factor analyses corroborated the unifactorial structure of trait anxiety and the two-factorial structure of state anxiety. Internal consistencies of all scales were highly satisfactory (Cronbach's alpha around 0.90). External relationships of the STOA with trait anxiety, dispositional and actual coping, observed anxiety, as well as indicators of perioperative adjustment confirmed the inventory's validity. An analysis of the scores of the two state anxiety components across the perioperative period demonstrated that these scales are sensitive indicators of state anxiety changes.