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Development and Psychometric Testing of the Personal and Social Responsibility Scale for Health Professions Students (PSR Scale)
- Date Issued:
- 2018
- Abstract/Description:
- Service learning is a pedagogy designed to teach democratic skills to prepare students to become civically engaged members of society. One of the challenges in the field of service learning is to demonstrate the effectiveness of this pedagogy. Common methodological problems include small sample sizes, difficulty differentiating correlation from causation, self-selection bias, and use of primarily qualitative and experiential outcome measures. The literature review failed to reveal any quantitative scales designed for the health professions. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a quantitative scale to measure service learning outcomes among health professions students, before and after an academic service learning activity. Phase 1 of the study, the development phase, involved an extensive review of the literature to develop the conceptual framework and identify the operational indicators to be measured. Items were adapted from existing scales that were consistent with the personal and social responsibility dimensions and found to possess at least minimally acceptable reliability and validity. Items were adapted to add the health professions perspective which resulted in the preliminary twenty-two item scale, divided into four subscales: Civic Responsibility, Self-Efficacy Toward Service, Civic Participation, and Social Justice Attitudes. Psychometric testing of this preliminary PSR Scale was done in 3 studies. Study 1 involved evaluation of content validity with subject matter experts utilizing a Content Validity Index. The scale was modified based on the results of the CVI and recommendations of the subject matter experts. The S-CVI/Ave for the entire scale was .84 suggesting content validity of the PSR Scale. Study 2 utilized principal components analysis of the subscales to validate the dimensions and operational indicators. Data was constrained to four factors which accounted for 60.56% of the total variance. Items with factor loadings less than 0.4 were deleted. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated for internal consistency. Based on these results, the scale was further revised by deleting items that decreased the Cronbach’s alpha. This resulted in a 16 item scale, containing four subscales, each with four items. The Cronbach’s alpha for the entire revised scale PSR Scale was .94. Study 3 involved testing the final 16 item version for sensitivity. Wilcoxon signed rank analysis revealed statistically significant changes pre and post service learning activity in the Civic Participation Subscale. Civic Participation Subscale items that were significant included “volunteering time to support my community”, “being involved in programs and activities that improve my community”, and “being involved in activities that improve the health of my community”. These findings suggest that participation in a service learning activity can increase civic participation. Psychometric testing of the Personal and Social Responsibility Scale (PSR) support preliminary validity, reliability and sensitivity of the instrument and the premise, consistent with prior research that changes in civic participation can occur as a result of service learning.
Title: | Development and Psychometric Testing of the Personal and Social Responsibility Scale for Health Professions Students (PSR Scale). |
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Name(s): |
De Los Santos, Maria, author Tappen, Ruth, Thesis advisor Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing |
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Type of Resource: | text | |
Genre: | Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation | |
Date Created: | 2018 | |
Date Issued: | 2018 | |
Publisher: | Florida Atlantic University | |
Place of Publication: | Boca Raton, Fla. | |
Physical Form: | application/pdf | |
Extent: | 131 p. | |
Language(s): | English | |
Abstract/Description: | Service learning is a pedagogy designed to teach democratic skills to prepare students to become civically engaged members of society. One of the challenges in the field of service learning is to demonstrate the effectiveness of this pedagogy. Common methodological problems include small sample sizes, difficulty differentiating correlation from causation, self-selection bias, and use of primarily qualitative and experiential outcome measures. The literature review failed to reveal any quantitative scales designed for the health professions. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a quantitative scale to measure service learning outcomes among health professions students, before and after an academic service learning activity. Phase 1 of the study, the development phase, involved an extensive review of the literature to develop the conceptual framework and identify the operational indicators to be measured. Items were adapted from existing scales that were consistent with the personal and social responsibility dimensions and found to possess at least minimally acceptable reliability and validity. Items were adapted to add the health professions perspective which resulted in the preliminary twenty-two item scale, divided into four subscales: Civic Responsibility, Self-Efficacy Toward Service, Civic Participation, and Social Justice Attitudes. Psychometric testing of this preliminary PSR Scale was done in 3 studies. Study 1 involved evaluation of content validity with subject matter experts utilizing a Content Validity Index. The scale was modified based on the results of the CVI and recommendations of the subject matter experts. The S-CVI/Ave for the entire scale was .84 suggesting content validity of the PSR Scale. Study 2 utilized principal components analysis of the subscales to validate the dimensions and operational indicators. Data was constrained to four factors which accounted for 60.56% of the total variance. Items with factor loadings less than 0.4 were deleted. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated for internal consistency. Based on these results, the scale was further revised by deleting items that decreased the Cronbach’s alpha. This resulted in a 16 item scale, containing four subscales, each with four items. The Cronbach’s alpha for the entire revised scale PSR Scale was .94. Study 3 involved testing the final 16 item version for sensitivity. Wilcoxon signed rank analysis revealed statistically significant changes pre and post service learning activity in the Civic Participation Subscale. Civic Participation Subscale items that were significant included “volunteering time to support my community”, “being involved in programs and activities that improve my community”, and “being involved in activities that improve the health of my community”. These findings suggest that participation in a service learning activity can increase civic participation. Psychometric testing of the Personal and Social Responsibility Scale (PSR) support preliminary validity, reliability and sensitivity of the instrument and the premise, consistent with prior research that changes in civic participation can occur as a result of service learning. | |
Identifier: | FA00013171 (IID) | |
Degree granted: | Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. | |
Collection: | FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection | |
Note(s): | Includes bibliography. | |
Subject(s): |
Health occupations students Health professions Psychometrics |
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Held by: | Florida Atlantic University Libraries | |
Sublocation: | Digital Library | |
Persistent Link to This Record: | http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013171 | |
Use and Reproduction: | Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder. | |
Use and Reproduction: | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | |
Host Institution: | FAU | |
Is Part of Series: | Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections. |