Development and validation of a questionnaire for professionalism in cyber users in medical sciences in Iran

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Considering the importance of virtual professionalism and professional ethics in medical sciences, and the necessity to pay attention to this issue and its impact on medical professionalism, this study aimed to build a professional culture questionnaire in a virtual environment for students of medical sciences in Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is an exploratory, sequential, mixed-methods research which was conducted in three sections. In the first section, the concept of e-professionalism in medical sciences was analyzed using the hybrid concept analysis in the theoretical work, field work, and final analysis stages in order to extract information related to the concept. In the second section, an item of the questionnaire was designed based on the concept, reviewed texts, and related questionnaires, in the third section, psychometric properties of a questionnaires were evaluated. RESULTS: Totally, 39 items were included in the initial pool, which reduced to 33 items in the final questionnaire after reviewing the psychometric properties. Factor analyses led to extraction of five factors including appraisal of e-professionalism compliance with the laws and regulations governing cyberspace, individual professionalism, knowledge management, respect for professionalism in interpersonal and group rules, and complying with ethics in the use of cyberspace. The internal consistency of questionnaire was also confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.78, also all factor correlations absed stability were significant ( P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: An exploratory sequential study in this study led to the extraction of five factors and development of a 33-item questionnaire in e-professionalism. As results and analysis of the psychometric properties and validation of each item, this questionnaire is valid and reliable for the assessment of levels of e-professionalism in medical sciences in Iran.

Comparing the Familiarity of the Basic and Clinical Faculty Members of Iran University of Medical Sciences with the Principles of Digital Professionalism

“…The test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.81, and the internal consistency was 0.69. ( 5 ) Five main factors of the questionnaire were compliance with the laws and regulations governing cyberspace, individual professionalism in using cyberspace, knowledge management and information literacy, respect for professionalism in interpersonal and group rules, and compliance with ethics in the use of cyberspace.…”

“…Previous studies in the field of digital professionalism have designed questionnaires to measure the digital ability of teachers ( 4 ), professionalism in the use of cyberspace in medical sciences ( 5 ), measuring digital skills ( 2 ) and the digital ability of faculties in Spain ( 6 ). We selected the most related questionnaire as our measuring tool for digital professionalism, which was designed for medical sciences and standardized in the Persian language for Iranian nationality people ( 5 ).…”

“…In previous similar questionnaires, areas such as general, professional interaction, digital resources, teaching and learning, assessment, empowering learners, and facilitating the digital capabilities of learners ( 6 ) or factors such as functional components, information navigation, social, creativity and usage of mobile ( 2 ), as well as compliance with the rules and regulations governing cyberspace, individual professionalism in using cyberspace, knowledge management, and information literacy, respect for professionalism in interpersonal and group rules, and compliance with ethics in the use of virtual space ( 5 ), in addition to information and information technology literacy, communication and collaboration, creating digital content, security, and troubleshooting and problem-solving ( 4 ) are also mentioned.…”

Development and validation of self-assessment instrument to measure the digital professionalism of healthcare professionals using social media

“…The medical students use social media mainly for educational purposes, and they are more interested in learning than giving patient advice. These tools for social media use are either too specific, focusing on the class or campus setting and the quality of information shared [ 12 , 13 ], or too general, covering the whole of cyberspace [ 14 ]. Therefore, there was a need for a tool that could specifically evaluate the online behaviour of HCPs regarding patient and professional advice.…”

Developing education for e-professionalism-Mixed methods evaluation of the impact of an evidence based educational tool for nurses

“…[13] The research literature identifies the need for more practical guidance, education and training. [9,14] In particular, nursing students need guidance around how they present themselves online to patients and the public, [15,16] the application of appropriate privacy settings [13,17,18] and a clear understanding of what 'is', and 'is not', allowed to be shared. [12,19] Finding practical approaches to promote e-professionalism across the nursing professional warrants attention.…”