Development and validation of a structured feedback questionnaire from postgraduates on various elements of postgraduate medical curriculum

Abstract

Background: Medical Council of India, introduced the Post Graduate (PG) curriculum as 'Competency Based Medical Education' (CBME). Feedback from the end users is a vital step in curriculum evaluation. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to develop and validate a Structured Feedback Questionnaire (SFQ) for postgraduates, encompassing all the components of the PG-CBME curriculum.

Methods: SFQ was developed with 23 Likert based questions and four open ended questions. Content validation was done by Lawshe method. After getting institutional ethics clearance and informed consent, SFQ was administered to 121 final year PGs (response rate 100%). We performed Principal component analysis (PCA), Structural equation modeling (SEM), Chi squared test (χ²/df); goodness-of-fit index (GFI); adjusted GFI; comparative fit index (CFI) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA). Cronbach's alpha was done for estimating the internal consistency.

Results: The validation resulted in a three-factor model comprising of "curriculum" (42.1%), "assessment" (28%), and "support" (18.5%). Chi squared test (χ²/df ratio) < 2, CFI (0.78), GFI (0.72) and RMSEA (0.09) indicated superior goodness of fit for the three-factor model for the sample data. All the extracted factors had good internal consistency of ≥0.9.

Conclusion: We believe that this 23 item SFQ is a valid and reliable tool which can be utilized for curriculum evaluation and thereby formulating recommendations to modify the existing curriculum wherever required, facilitating enriched program outcomes.

Keywords: Factor analysis; Medical education; Post graduate studies; Questionnaire; Validation.

Fig. 1

Scree plot shows first three factors account for most of the total variability of the 23 items by the eigenvalue.

Fig. 2

SEM results of the confirmatory factor analysis for the three factor model.