Abstract:
In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in
measuring perceptions regarding different aspects of the
medical educational environment. A reliable tool was
developed for measuring perceptions of the educational
environment as it relates to evidence-based medicine as
part of a multicountry randomised controlled trial to
evaluate the effectiveness of a clinically integrated evidence-
based medicine course. Participants from 10 specialties
completed the questionnaire. A working dataset
of 518 observations was available. Two independent
subsets of data were created for conducting an exploratory
factor analysis (n=244) and a confirmatory factor
analysis (n=274), respectively. The exploratory factor
analysis yielded five 67-item definitive instruments,
with five to nine dimensions; all resulted in acceptable
explanations of the total variance (range 56.6–65.9%).
In the confirmatory factor analysis phase, all goodnessof-
fit measures were acceptable for all models (root
mean square error of approximation ≤0.047; comparative
fit index≥0.980; normed χ² ≤1.647; Bentler-Bonett
normed fit index ≥0.951). The authors selected the factorisation
with seven dimensions (factor-7 instrument)
as the most useful on pragmatic grounds and named it
Evidence-Based Medicine Educational Environment
Measure 67 (EBMEEM-67). Cronbach’s α for subscales
ranged between 0.81 and 0.93. The subscales are:
‘Knowledge and learning materials’; ‘Learner support’;
‘General relationships and support’; ‘Institutional focus
on EBM’; ‘Education, training and supervision’; ‘EBM
application opportunities’; and ‘Affirmation of EBM
environment’. The EBMEEM-67 can be a useful diagnostic
and benchmarking tool for evaluating the perceptions
of residents of the environment in which
evidence-based medicine education takes place.
