Translation and validation of the Chinese version of the Study Interest Questionnaire in health care students

Abstract

Background: Considering interest's galvanizing effects on students’ learning, many researchers have devoted themselves to exploring methods and factors influencing students' interest in learning. However, there is currently no measurement for assessing health care students' interest in professional learning in China. The study aimed to translate the Study Interest Questionnaire (SIQ) and examine its psychometric properties among Chinese health care students. Methods: The translation and cross-cultural adaptation rigorously followed the modified Brislin's model. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using the Chinese version of the SIQ (CV-SIQ) and purposive sampling was employed to select health care students. The validity of the CV-SIQ was assessed through content validity and construct validity. Reliability was determined by analyzing internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Results: A total of 1066 participants were included in the analysis. The item-level content validity index (CVI) ranged from 0.9 to 1.0, and the scale-level CVI was 0.96. In the Exploratory factor analysis, four factors with eigenvalues above 1 were identified, accounting for 63.809% of the cumulative variance. In the confirmatory factor analysis, the CMIN/DF was 4.49, GFI was 0.90, IFI was 0.90, and CFI was 0.90. The Cronbach’s α coefficient of the CV-SIQ was 0.813, and those of the four factors were 0.862, 0.842, 0.777, and 0.731. Thirty-one participants were invited to sign the scale after two weeks. The intraclass correlation coefficient of the CV-SIQ was 0.784, and that of items ranged from 0.70 to 0.869. Conclusions: The CV-SIQ, including 18 items, contains 4 dimensions: emotion, knowledge, value, and engagement. The CV-SIQ exhibited satisfactory validity and reliability and can be applied for measuring health care students’ learning interest in China. With the aid of this scale, teachers can gain a better understanding of health care students' learning interests, thereby maximizing their learning effects through appropriate content and methods.