Author/Authors :
Delavari, Somayeh Department of Medical Education - School of Medicine - Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Amini, Mitra Clinical Education Research Center - Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran , Sohrabi, Zohreh Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences - School of Medicine - Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Koohestani, Hamidreza Department of Medical Education - Saveh University of Medical Sciences, Saveh, Iran , Delavari, Sajad Health Human Resources Research Center - School of Management & Information Sciences - Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran , Rezaee, Rita Clinical Education Research Center - Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran , Mohammadi, Elaheh Department of Medical Education - School of Medicine - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Demeester, Anne Ecole Supérieure du Professorat et de I’éducation (ESPE) - Aix-Marseille Université , Charlin, Bernard Centre de pédagogie appliquée aux sciences de la santé (CPASS) - Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada , Kheirkhah, Masoomeh Department of Midwifery and Reproductive Health - Nursing Care Research Center School of Nursing and Midwifery - Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Abstract :
Background: Clinical reasoning plays an important role in the accurate diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Script Concordance test
(SCT) is one of the tools that assess clinical reasoning skill. This study was conducted to determine the reliability and concurrent and
predictive validity of SCT in assessing final lessons and gynecology exams of undergraduate midwifery students.
Methods: At first, 20 clinical scenarios followed by 3 questions were designed by 2 experienced midwives. Then, after examining the
content validity, 15 scenarios were selected. The test was used for 55 midwifery students. The correlation of SCT results with grade
point average (GPA) was measured. To evaluate the concurrent validity of SCT, the correlation between SCT scores and the final exam
of the gynecology course was measured. To measure predictive validity, the correlation of SCT scores with comprehensive exams of
midwifery was calculated. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and coefficient
Cronbach's alpha were used for analysis. The test’s item difficulty level (IDL) and item discriminative index (IDI) were determined
using Whitney and Sabers’ method.
Results: The internal reliability of the test (calculated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient) was 0.74. All questions were positively
correlated with the total score. The highest correlation coefficient was related to GPA and comprehensive test with the score of 0.91.
The correlation coefficient between SCT and the final test (concurrent validity) was 0.654, and the correlation coefficient between SCT
and comprehensive test (predictive validity) was 0.721. The range of item discriminative index and item difficulty level in this exam
was 0.39-0.59 and 0.32-0.66, respectively.
Conclusion: SCT shows a relatively high internal validity and can predict the success rate of students in the comprehensive exams of
midwifery. Also, it showed a high concurrent validity in the final test of gynecology course. This test could be a good alternative for
formative and summative tests of clinical courses.
Keywords :
Psychometrics , Midwifery , Clinical skill , Clinical competence , Educational , Assessment , Problem-solving , Clinical decision-making
