Validity and Reliability of the Persian Translation of Dutch Residency Educational Climate Test and Analysis of Residents’ Learning Climate in Four Major Departments of Shiraz Medical School

Abstract

Background: As one of the most important components of curriculums, the educational environment provides learners with a forum in which they can learn communication skills and other abilities such as critical thinking and clinical problem-solving. To improve this environment and consequently upgrade medical education, the current environment must be evaluated. Objectives: In a quest to adapt a valid and reliable instrument for this purpose, this study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Persian translation of Dutch Residency Educational Climate test (D-RECT) to measure the quality of the educational environment in the main clinical wards of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, a forward Persian translation of the D-RECT questionnaire was translated and back-translated by two bilingual expert panels, and its reliability was determined in a pilot study. Then, 100 residents working at internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and gynecology wards were selected randomly to fill out the questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21 software. Results: The Persian translation of D-RECT had acceptable validity, reliability, internal consistency, and reproducibility. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by Cronbach’s α of 0.95. Convergent validity was 0.61 to 0.90. Among the wards evaluated in this study, the educational environment was significantly better in the pediatric ward than in the other wards. Conclusions: The Persian translation of D-RECT validated in the studied departments seems to be an effective, valid, and reliable instrument for evaluating and comparing the quality of the current educational environment for residents in Iran. This evaluation can help improve training.