Challenges in the clinical education environment during the outbreak of COVID‑19: Development and psychometric testing

COVID‑19 pandemic poses unique physical and emotional challenges in providing clinical education. Failure to identify the challenges and problems that students face in the clinical learning environment hinders their effective learning and growth. Consequently, the progress of their skills is affected. The aim of this study was to develop a challenge in the clinical education environment of medical students during the outbreak of COVID‑19 questionnaire and to test its psychometric properties.

This study is part of a larger study that was conducted using a combined consecutive method in Qazvin. In the first stage, a phenomenological study was performed with van Manen’s method by interviewing 12 students at Qazvin University. To extract the items of the tool in the second stage, the concept was defined. Ultimately, the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were evaluated with face validity, content validity (quantitative and qualitative), construct validity (exploratory factor analysis), internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha), and test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient).

The initial tool had 70 questions. After validation, 53 items remained in the final questionnaire. Four extracted dimensions were as follows: “Inadequate professional competency,” “Inefficient clinical planning” and “outcomes of learning‑teaching activities,” and “the challenges related to the stigma of medical staff.” Cronbach’s alpha for the whole questionnaire was 0.98 (range: 0.87–0.98). The test–retest (intraclass correlation coefficient) reliability was 0.98 (P < 0.001).

According to the obtained results, if the items of “Inadequate professional competency,” “Inefficient clinical planning” and “outcomes of learning‑teaching activities,” and “the challenges related to the stigma of medical staff,” the challenges of students’ clinical education can be reduced during the COVID‑19 outbreak.