Steps towards validation of the Dental Education Clinical Learning Instrument (DECLEI) in American dental schools (DECLEI‐USA)

Abstract

Purposes/ObjectivesFew tools assess the dental school clinical learning environment from students' perspectives. Considering previous efforts to validate the Dental Education Clinical Learning Instrument (DECLEI) in the United States, the goal of this study was to look for the fewest number of items that accounted for the most amount of variability in responses and/or had the highest correlation to the total DECLEI score using a larger, multi‐center sample.MethodsThe DECLEI was distributed to 286 students in two dental schools (University of Iowa and University of Texas at Houston) during the 2017‐2018 academic year. Two alternative methods were applied. In the first approach, all 24‐items were regressed on the total composite score using a forward conditional method. In the second approach, the item‐total correlation for the full scale was calculated and then items with relatively poor coefficients were eliminated. A cutoff of 0.30 or less was used.ResultsThe first approach, Total R2 by Regression Model, produced a 9‐item scale accounting for 90% of the variance in total score and a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.79. The second approach, Item‐Total Correlation, produced a larger scale (20 items), as well as a higher Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.89. The instrument also presented appropriate sensitivity to measure differences between race groups and school of origin.ConclusionDECLEI may have the potential to be used as an instrument to measure clinical learning environments for U.S. dental students using either a smaller, concise scale (Mini DECLEI‐USA) or a larger (DECLEI‐USA), more thorough scale.

Undergraduate Students’ and Interns’ Perception towards Learning Environment at Dental Clinics, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia

“…[ 17 ] The current study explored the perceptions of the undergraduate dental students about their CLE using customized and validated DECLEI questionnaire developed according to the psychometric standards to measure undergraduate clinical dental environment. [ 12 , 16 , 18 , 19 ]…”

Preliminary validation of the Dental Clinical Learning Environment Instrument in a Brazilian dental school

“…The 1‐component PCA solution retained 17 items with satisfactory internal consistency reliability whilst also maintaining a sufficient number of items to preserve the content validity of the instrument. The 17‐item scale contains 13 items in common with the 18‐item scale that resulted from a preliminary DECLEI validation study in a US dental school, 13 and all 17 items are contained into the 20‐item DECLEI‐USA scale resulting from the latest steps towards validation in 2 USA dental schools 14 . Therefore, there is a core of items that had the highest correlation to the total DECLEI score that are common to the DECLEI analysis performed in two different countries to date.…”

“…A pilot validation analysis of DECLEI was performed at a US dental school, 13 and an extended validation at 2 US dental schools was recently published 14 . The English version of the original 24‐item DECLEI instrument has also been validated in Saudi Arabia 15 and Pakistan, 16 indicating that it has the potential to be used as an instrument to assess dental clinical learning environment in multiple cultures.…”

An insight into the clinical learning environment of dental institutes: a study in the twin cities of Pakistan

“…This instrument has been validated through studies carried out in different parts of the world, including Europe, the United States and Brazil, and has also been applied to dental institutions in the Saudi Arabian city of Riyadh as well as in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan. [10][11][12][13] Only one localised study in Pakistan has examined the dental clinical learning environment, and it was conducted in KP. 13 As such, the findings may not be representative of the entire country.…”