Evaluating the psychometric properties of the clinical assessment tool used in the midwifery programme In Botswana

Abstract

Background: Clinical assesssment tools play an essential role in clinical practice and assessment. Clinical assessment tools have to be evaluated for pyschometric properties to enhance objectivity and fairness when evaluating students. Reliability and validity are considered the main psychometric properties of clinical assessment tools. However, determining the psychometric properties of clinical assessment tools still remains a major problem. Hence, some tools are designed and used without adequate assessment of their reliability and validity. There is no evidence of the psychometric properties, mainly internal consistency, reliability and content validity of the clinical assessment tool used in Midwifery Programme in Botswana.

Aim/Purpose: The aim of the study was to evaluate the internal consistency reliability and content validity psychometric properties of the clinical assessment tool used in the Midwifery Programme in Botswana.

Design: A methodological design was used to evaluate the internal consistency reliability and content validity psychometric properties of the clinical assessment tool used in the Midwifery Programme in Botswana.

Research process: Data was collected from the completed clinical assessment tools which were used to assess midwifery students registered for intrapartum care (MID 421) in semester 2 and intrapartum care practicum (MID 543) in semester 4 in 2019, from the midwifery training schools, n=114. Data collected from these clinical assessment tools was captured and analyzed using the downloaded IBM® Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 25. Inter-item analysis and the corrected item–total correlation were calculated to determine the internal consistency reliability of the clinical assessment tool used in midifery programme. Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine the reliability of the entire clinical assessment tool. The Subject Matter Expects in midwifery working in the academic field and those working in the Nursing and Midwifery Council in Botswana, were used to evaluate the content validity regarding the relevance and clarity of the competencies in the clinical assessment tool. The Content Validity Index (CVI), Item Content Validity Index (I-CVI), Content Validity Ratio (CVR), the overall scale (S-CVI/Ave) and Scale Content Validity Index using Universal Agreement (S-CVI-UA) were calculated to determine the content validity of the clinical assessment tool used in the Midwifery Programme in Botswana. Results: The results of this study with regard to internal consistency reliability, revealed an overall Cronbach’s alpha of the clinical assessment tool of 0.837. The results of this study, with regard to content validity, revealed an overall CVR of 0.95 and an overall CVI of 0.97. The I-CVI value of the competencies for content validity ranged from 0.8 to 1. The S-CVI/Ave and the S-CVI/UA values of the competencies for content validity were 0.97 and 0.75 respectively.

Conclusion: The clinical assessment tool used in the Midwifery Programme in Botswana is reliable and valid. However, there is a need to review some of the competencies to improve its internal consistency reliability and content validity.

Keywords: Clinical Assessment, Clinical Assessment Tool, Midwifery Training Institutions, Midwifery Students, Midwifery Programme, Botswana, Reliability, Validity, Psychometric Properties.