Testing adaptation and psychometric properties of survey instrument for students' perspectives on e-professionalism and social media in Iranian students

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The use of social networks in the field of education has also accelerated and has become a powerful source of learning for transformation and empowerment in various fields. This study aimed to test the adaptation and psychometric properties of an instrument for students' prospective on e-professionalism in the use of social media in Iranian medical science students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this questionnaire, with the aim of psychometric properties of the perception toward social media in Iranian students, this survey instrument developed by (Ness et al.) in five fields in 2nd-year pharmacology students in Purdue University The fields include accountability, hiring decisions, profile editing, professionalism, and privacy settings. In this study, first, a cultural adaptation was done by an expert panel. Then, psychometric properties of an instrument by content validity and construct validity using explanatory factor analysis were performed. Reliability was assessed by test–retest and internal consistency of items. The reliability of the survey instrument with three factors was 0.82 using the test–retest, and the internal consistency was good (r = 0.94). RESULTS: The result of psychometric properties using the principal component method extracted three factors (accountability, hiring decision, and professionalism) to assessment of students' attitude to professionalism using social media in Iranian students. CONCLUSION: The adapted and psychometric properties of the instrument developed by Ness et al., 2013, with three dimensions and ten items proved to be a valid, reliable instrument for use for assessing perspectives on e-professionalism and social media in Iranian medical students. This questioner may be suitable for Iranian researches in medical education.