Validation of the Korean Version of the Undergraduate Clinical Education Environment Measure

Abstract

In light of the need for a tool to evaluate the clinical practice education environment as perceived by medical and nursing students, this study is was conducted to develop and validate the Korean version of the Undergraduate Clinical Education Environment Measure (K-UCEEM) as a measurement tool for managing the clinical practice education climate and quality of education. For validation, the UCEEM consisting of 25 items developed by Pia Strand in 2013 was adapted according to standard translation procedures. The K-UCEEM questionnaire was administered to 73 medical students and 135 nursing students who participated in clinical practice at one medical institution. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to confirm the validity of the instrument’s structure. In order to determine referential validity, the relationships among stresses in clinical practice were examined, and differences in factor scores were compared by gender and college. It was confirmed that the scale of 24 items and five factors showed a moderate model fitness index. The reliability of the factors ranged from 0.786 to 0.867. In addition, all five factors were found to have negative correlations with the clinical practice stress sub-factor, and there were statistically significant differences by gender and college. Through this study, the validity and reliability of the K-UCEEM were verified. In the future, it is expected that further verification of the scale, as well as evaluation and improvement of the clinical practice education environment based on this scale, will occur.