A De Novo Tool to Measure the Preclinical Learning Climate of Medical Faculties in Turkey
Nilufer Demiral Yilmaz
Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Bornova, Izmir 35100 TurkeySerpil Velipasaoglu
Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, İnciralti, Izmir 35340 TurkeyHatice Sahin
Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Bornova, Izmir 35100 TurkeyBilge Uzun Basusta
Department of Medical Education and Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Sihhiye, Ankara 06100 TurkeyOzlem Midik
Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Ondokuz Mayis University, Atakum, Samsun 55280 TurkeyOzlem Coskun
Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Gazi University, Yenimahalle, Ankara 06560 TurkeyIsıl Irem Budakoglu
Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Gazi University, Yenimahalle, Ankara 06560 TurkeySumer Mamakli
Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Akdeniz University, Kampus, Antalya 07070 TurkeyFunda Ifakat Tengiz
Vocational School of Health Services, Izmir University of Economics, Balçova, Izmir 35330 TurkeyHalil Ibrahim Durak
Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Bornova, Izmir 35100 TurkeySema Ozan
Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, İnciralti, Izmir 35340 TurkeyAbstract
Although several scales are used to measure general and clinical learning climates, there are no scales that assess the preclinical learning climate. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop an effective measurement tool in order to assess the preclinical learning climate. In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from 3,540 preclinical medical students of six medical faculties in Turkey. The methodology included the following activities: generate an item pool, receive expert opinions, perform a pretest to purify the instrument, and conduct factor and reliability analyses. According to the factor analysis, eight factors were determined and their contribution to the variance was 50.39%. In addition, the item factor loadings ranged from .31 to .91, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the subscales ranged from .72 to .77, and the item-total correlation coefficients for the subscales ranged from .44 to .76. All the items significantly discriminated between the lowand high-performing students (t = 99.57; p = .01). The scale included 52 items with the following subscales: management, teaching, teaching staff, institutional commitment, emotions, inter-student relationships, physical environment, and motivation. The analysis of this newly developed Preclinical Learning Climate Scale (PLCS) indicated that its psychometric properties are appropriate and this scale can be employed to evaluate medical education programs.