Psychometrics evaluation of the university student engagement inventory in online learning among Arab students

Improving struggling medical and nursing students' subjective vitality, school engagement and academic performance through a peer mentorship intervention programme: an intervention protocol

BACKGROUND

The undergraduate medical training programme is demanding and rigorous. This underlines the importance of a peer mentorship strategy to improve the well-being, self-determination, school connectedness, and performance of struggling medical and nursing students. This study is aimed at identifying struggling medical and nursing students using two cumulative continuous assessment test (CAT) scores, assess their subjective vitality and school engagement and evaluate the impact of the peer mentorship intervention on them.

METHODS

The study will adopt a mixed-methods approach and will be conducted in the medical colleges of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria, and the University of Rwanda. Three instruments will be used: The subjective Vitality Scale (SVS), the University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI), and the academic records of the students before and after the commencement of the intervention programme. The consenting least-performing medical and nursing students identified by their low CAT scores (below 45%) in basic medical sciences will be selected for study in each institution. The outcome measures will include students' CAT scores, subjective vitality, and school engagement scores. The data will be analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Thematic content analysis will be adopted in the analysis of the responses generated from the focus group discussion. The mean ± standard deviation or median and interquartile range statistic will be adopted for the quantitative data.

DISCUSSION

Given the paucity of data on struggling medical and nursing students in Nigeria and Rwanda, this research was designed to help in exploring evidence-based interventions to improve and prevent poor subjective well-being of struggling students. The study is expected to fill these knowledge gaps.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Pan African Clinical Trial registry, PACTR202405546896613, registration date: 27th May, 2024. This proposal has been supported by grant 1R25TW011217 from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH)/Fogarty International Center (FIC) which also includes co-funds from the U.S. Department of State's Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy (S/GAC) and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to the African Forum for Research and Education in Health (AFREhealth). The Grant Principal Investigators are Profs. Nelson K.Sewankambo (contact PI), Prisca Adejumo, Jean Bisimwa Nachega, Fatima Suleman.

A study on the development of happiness scale for Chinese young children

This study was conducted to develop an assessment tool for measuring happiness among Chinese preschoolers, and to verify the reliability and validity of this tool. A total of 269 preschoolers aged 3 to 5 years from kindergartens and childcare centers in Hangzhou, China, were surveyed. The Preschooler Happiness Scale, constructed through literature review and interviews with preschoolers, underwent expert content validity verification and pilot testing to refine items. The validity and reliability of the scale were verified in this study, resulting in the development of the final Preschooler Happiness Scale comprising 6 sub-factors and 25 items. The reliability verification revealed a high overall reliability of 0.91 for the Preschooler Happiness Scale, confirming its trustworthiness as a tool. The academic significance of the findings and the practical utility of the Preschooler Happiness Scale in early childhood education settings in China were discussed based on the results of this study.

The biosafety incident response competence scale for clinical nursing staff: a development and validation study

AIMS

This study was designed to develop a biosafety incident response competence scale and evaluate its validity and reliability among clinical nurses.

DESIGN

This study employed a sequential approach, comprising four phases: (1) the establishment of a multidimensional conceptual model, (2) the preliminary selection of the items, (3) further exploration and psychometric testing of the items, (4) the application of the scale among clinical nurses.

METHODS

The biosafety incident response competence conceptual model was developed through literature review and the Delphi method. A total of 1,712 clinical nurses participated in the preliminary items selection, while 1,027 clinical nurses were involved in the further psychometric testing from July 2023 to August 2023. The item analysis, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to evaluate the construct validity. Reliability was measured using Cronbach's alpha, split-half reliability, and test-retest reliability, while validity analysis included content validity, structural validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. From September to November 2023, we conducted a survey using the established scale with a total of 4338 valid questionnaires collected. T-test and variance analysis was employed to determine potential variations in biosafety incident response competence based on participants characteristics.

RESULTS

The final scale is composed of 4 factors and 29 items, including monitoring and warning abilities, nursing disposal abilities, biosafety knowledge preparedness, and infection protection abilities. The explanatory variance of the 4 factors was 75.100%. The Cronbach's alpha, split-half reliability and test-retest reliability were 0.974, 0.945 and 0.840 respectively. The Scale-level content validity index was 0.866. The Average Variance Extracted of the 4 factors was larger than 0.5, the Construct Reliability was larger than 0.7, and the Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio were less than 0.9. There were significant differences in the scores of response competence among nurses of different ages, working years, titles, positions, departments, marital status and participation in biosafety training (all P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The biosafety incident response competence scale for nurses exhibits satisfactory reliability and validity, making it a valuable tool for assessing clinical nurses' abilities in responding to biosafety incidents.

Development and psychometric evaluation of the questionnaire on the contributing factors of tendency towards voluntary single-childedness and childlessness: a mixed method study

Couples' tendency towards voluntary single-childedness and childlessness (VSCC) has turned into a major challenge in all societies and led to different problems such as population aging. A key step to VSCC management is to determine its contributing factors through valid and reliable instruments. This exploratory sequential mixed method study (qualitative-quantitative) was conducted in 2020-2021. Phases of qualitative consists of all couples aged 15-49 in Babol, Iran, who were single or childless. Sampling is based on the purpose, and the number of samples is 20 couples. To collect data, face-to-face and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants. Sampling continued until data saturation. The data were analyzed by the conventional content analysis method and quantitative phase. Initially, a qualitative study was conducted on twenty couples, and were analyzed through conventional content analysis. Findings were used to develop QFT-VSCC and then, the face, content, and construct validity as well as reliability were assessed. Construct validity was assessed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and reliability was assessed through internal consistency and stability assessments. The results of the qualitative part analysis consist of 140 codes, 30 primary categories, and nine main categories and two themes (individual limitations and social limitations). The primary QFT-VSCC had 78 items. Fifty-eight items were omitted during validity assessment and the remaining twenty-two items were loaded on five factors during factor analysis. These factors were threatened priorities, inappropriate familial context for childbearing, sense of occupational and social insecurity for the child, social modeling of childlessness, and tendency towards change or stability in marital life. The five factors explained 52.56% of the total variance. All model fit indices in confirmatory factor analysis were acceptable and the Cronbach's alpha values of QFT-VSCC and all its factors were more than 0.70. The results of convergent validity analysis revealed that all factors had an AVE value greater than 0.5, and the HTMT index for all factors was less than 0.85. This indicated that discriminant validity had been achieved. QFT-VSCC is a simple valid and reliable instrument for VSCC assessment among both men and women.

Comparative Analysis of Engagement and Academic Self‐Concept among Nursing Students: Differences in Study Modalities

Background. Novel educational strategies are essential to cultivate a cadre of nurses with the requisite skills, critical thinking abilities, and adaptability demanded by contemporary healthcare contexts. The shift towards various learning modalities in nursing education, including online, hybrid, and in‐person formats, raises questions about their impact on student engagement and academic self‐concept. Objectives. This study aimed to assess and compare the levels of student engagement and academic self‐concept among nursing students engaged in different study modalities (online, hybrid, and in‐person). Methods. In this descriptive comparative study, 203 nursing students were evaluated using the university student engagement inventory (USEI) and academic self‐concept questionnaire (ASCQ). Participants were divided into groups based on their involvement in online, hybrid, or in‐person study modes. Differences and correlational analysis within variables were performed to evaluate the comparison between groups. Results. Significant differences were observed in the USEI scores among the study modalities: online (mean = 45.7, SD = 5.6), hybrid (mean = 48.8, SD = 6.1), and in‐person (mean = 50.4, SD = 6.2), with in‐person students displaying the highest levels of engagement (F = 10.663, P < 0.001). Academic self‐concept scores also varied notably (F = 9.422, P < 0.001) between modalities, particularly between online (mean = 54.8, SD = 5.3) and in‐person students (mean = 58.8, SD = 7.7). Correlational analysis within each modality revealed significant relationships among the subdomains of USEI and ASCQ. Conclusion. The study demonstrates that the mode of study substantially influences nursing students’ engagement and academic self‐concept, with in‐person learners showing higher scores in both domains. These results are vital for educators and policymakers in nursing education to optimize learning experiences across different modalities.

Modelling the associations between academic engagement, study process and grit on academic achievement of physical education and sport university students

OBJECTIVE

The present study examined the impact of academic engagement, study processes, and grit on the academic achievement of physical education and sport university students.

METHODS

An internet-based survey recruited 459 university students aged 19-25 years (M = 21 ± 1.3) in physical education and sports (PES) to fill out questionnaires on Physical Education-Study Process Questionnaire (PE-SPQ), Physical Education-Grit (PE-Grit), academic engagement (A-USEI), and Grade Point Average (GPA). A path analysis was carried out to understand variable relationships.

RESULTS

Data from each variable exhibited symmetrical and normal distribution, as indicated by the skewness and kurtosis values. The model's fit indices showed sufficient Comparative Fit Index (CFI = 0.92), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI = 0.90), Goodness of Fit Index (GFI = 0.99) and Normed Fit Index (NFI = 0.90) and showed acceptable levels. The results indicated a statistically significant positive impact of engagement (β = 0.299, p < 0.001) and study processes (β = 0.397, p < 0.001) on academic achievement. However, the effect of grit on achievement was non-significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Academic engagement as well as study processes are two important factors predicting academic achievement while grit seems to be not a major predictor. Hence, physical education and sport faculty and university administrators should prioritize student engagement as a determinant of academic outcomes by reforming or redesigning physical education and sport curriculum modules that can facilitate engagement.