Evaluation of a Scale for Assessing Medical Students’ Attitudes to the Social Dimensions of Health and Preventive Services
Abstract
Objective: The purpose of this study was an evaluation of the reliability and validity of a scale for medical students’ attitudes towards the social dimensions of health and preventive services.
Method: 255 (72.9%) out of 350 fourth-year and 304 (83.9%) out of 83.9% of 362 sixth-year students in Ege University Medical Faculty participated the study at the beginning of the 2005- 2006 academic-year. The reliability and validity of the scale, which was developed by the researchers, were assessed by Cronbach-alpha coefficients and factor-analysis.
Results: Three factors emerged (the importance of preventive services; the importance of the social dimensions of health; responsibilities in preventive services) from the factor analysis. These factors explained 48.4% of the total variance. Cronbach alpha value was 0.77.
Conclusion: The scale developed and evaluated in this study is a reliable, valid and practicable tool which can be used in the assessment of medical students’ attitudes.
Keywords
Undergraduate medical education, attitude of medical students, preventive health services, social dimension of health, validity
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