Assessment of Feedback Environment for Medical Assistant Students in Clinical Areas: Localization, and Validity and Reliability Assessment of the Tool

Clinical education and providing feedback are the most important criteria of vocational education in order to consolidate students' learning. Since evaluation of clinical teaching environment with using a suitable tool plays an important role in enhancing students' motivation and learning, so this study aimed to provide a localized tool for examining feedback environment in clinical field in medical assistant students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran.

This cross-sectional instrumental study was conducted in two phases in the academic year of 2017- 2018. Firstly, the Stellman et al. Feedback Environment Scale tool which was developed for the work environment, and was the theoretical basis of this study was translated into Persian through the "forwardbackward" method. Secondly, the content validity of the questionnaire was assessed quantitatively [content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI) and qualitatively, the face validity of the questionnaire was assessed using quantitative and qualitative methods, and reliability was calculated by Cronbach's alpha; then, the data were analyzed using SPSS software.

All the questions in the questionnaire were within acceptable range in terms of quantitative content validity index (CVR and CVI) and quantitative face validity [impact score (IS)], and Cronbach's alpha coefficient of this study was 0.861.

The findings showed that the Persian and localized version of the Stilman et al. questionnaire had good validity and reliability, and could be used for evaluating feedback environment in clinical practice among medical assistant students