A new instrument for residency program evaluation

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to develop a comprehensive program evaluation instrument. Following pilot work with residents, a 69-item instrument consisting of statements with 5-point strongly agree to strongly disagree response options was distributed to 107 residents; 104 responded. Psychometric analyses revealed no ceiling or floor effects; 9 items were deleted. There were three subscales: workload (19 items; alpha = .76); educational environment (29 items; alpha = .72) and lifestyle issues (12 items; alpha = .62). Mean item scores were significantly higher for educational environment (3.53; SD 0.28) than for workload (2.78; SD 0.39) and lifestyle (2.96; SD 0.42). Items with the lowest scores reflected issues that were largely fixable. The 60-item instrument appears to be psychometrically sound, comprehensive, and exportable.