Psychometric evaluation and localization of STEEM tool for surgical technologists in Iran

Clinical education is one of the most important parts of medical and paramedical education that prepares students for practicing clinical skills. Evaluation of the clinical learning environment with a suitable instrument plays an important role in increasing student motivation and learning. This also applies to the assessment of the clinical environment of the operating room. In search of such a suitable instrument, this study aimed at investigating the psychometric properties of Surgical Theatre Educational Environment Measure (STEEM) among surgical technology students of Iran University of Medical Sciences and Alborz University of Medical Sciences in 2018. This was a descriptive-analytic study conducted from July 2017 to July 2018. After translation and retranslation of the STEEM tool, its face validity and content validity were measured by the relevant experts panel. Then, it was distribute damong 201 surgical technology students. The construct validity of the instrument was investigated using exploratory factor analysis and its reliability was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha and Pearson correlation coefficient. Data were analyzed using SPSS 19. The study of face, content, and construct validity resulted in providing STEEM questionnaire with 5 subscales and 30 questions covering 55.6% of the total variance. The findings of this study indicated that the Persian and native versions of STEEM had appropriate validity and reliability, and could be used to measure the operating environment of the Iranian Operating Room from the standpoint of surgical technology students. Keywords: measurement, Educational environment, Operating room, Educational measurement, STEEM.