Psychometric evaluation of the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure: Swedish version

Figures & data

Table

Practice points

The Swedish version of the DREEM instrument is in general a psychometrically valid and reliable instrument, which can be used to identify problem areas in medical education programmes. A new five-factor solution found in this study that could be seen as an alternative model to the original measurement model where the strong and weak areas are somewhat more easily identified.

Table 1.  Description of the sample and comparison between the two cohorts.

	Total sample n = 395	Cohort 2003 n = 201	Cohort 2005 n = 194	p-value (comparisons across cohorts)
Age, mean (SD)^a	25.5 (4.8)	25.1 (4.6)	26.0 (5.0)	0.063
Women %^b	58.9	58.7	59.1	0.942
DREEM total score, mean (SD)^a	145.2 (22.2)	144.1 (21.8)	146.2 (22.7)	0.417
DREEM subscale scores, mean (SD)^a
(1) Perceptions of learning	33.6 (6.7)	33.6 (6.5)	34.2 (6.7)	0.393
(2) Perception of teachers	31.0 (5.5)	30.5 (5.3)	31.4 (5.6)	0.160
(3) Academic self-perceptions	23.0 (4.3)	22.5 (4.2)	22.4 (4.7)	0.699
(4) Perceptions of atmosphere	37.1 (6.1)	37.0 (6.0)	37.6 (6.0)	0.356
(5) Social self-perceptions	20.5 (4.0)	20.1 (3.6)	20.8 (4.2)	0.111
Mean score divided with the total score, for each subscale in DREEM^b
(1) Perceptions of learning	0.70	0.70	0.71
(2) Perception of teachers	0.70	0.69	0.71
(3) Academic self-perceptions	0.72	0.70	0.70
(4) Perceptions of atmosphere	0.77	0.77	0.78
(5) Social self-perceptions	0.73	0.72	0.74
DREEM subscale scores from the new five-factor solution, mean (SD)^a
(1) Learning and motivation	48.1 (9.6)	47.4 (9.4)	48.9 (9.7)	0.139
(2) Communication	21.6 (4.6)	21.3 (4.3)	21.9 (4.9)	0.298
(3) Psychosocial situation	32.8 (5.1)	32.4 (5.0)	33.3 (5.2)	0.103
(4) Teaching org. and progression	18.9 (4.1)	19.0 (4.0)	18.8 (4.2)	0.645
(5) Bad teaching	23.8 (4.2)	23.7 (4.1)	24.0 (4.4)	0.506
Mean score divided with the total score, for each subscale in the new five-factor solution version^b
(1) Learning and motivation	0.71	0.70	0.72
(2) Communication	0.68	0.67	0.68
(3) Psychosocial situation	0.82	0.81	0.83
(4) Teaching org. and progression	0.68	0.68	0.67
(5) Bad teaching	0.74	0.74	0.75

Notes: ^aStudent's t-test.

^bChi-square test.

Figure 1. The distribution of the responses for each factor.

Table 2.  Corrected item-total correlations for each item (divided in the pre-defined subscales).

Subscale I	Item-total correlations	Subscale II	Item-total correlations	Subscale III	Item-total correlations	Subscale IV	Item-total correlations	Subscale V	Item-total correlations
Item 1	0.523	Item 2	0.330	Item 5	0.407	Item 11	0.420	Item 3	0.332
Item 7	0.348	Item 6	0.438	Item 10	0.405	Item 12	0.448	Item 4	0.375
Item 13	0.539	Item 8	0.414	Item 21	0.527	Item 17	0.155	Item 14	0.393
Item 16	0.594	Item 9	0.364	Item 26	0.319	Item 23	0.428	Item 15	0.451
Item 20	0.606	Item 18	0.460	Item 27	0.385	Item 30	0.369	Item 19	0.532
Item 22	0.545	Item 29	0.504	Item 31	0.388	Item 33	0.483	Item 28	0.541
Item 24	0.532	Item 32	0.535	Item 41	0.512	Item 34	0.478	Item 46	0.204
Item 25	0.214	Item 37	0.545	Item 45	0.430	Item 35	0.476
Item 38	0.451	Item 39	0.419			Item 36	0.406
Item 44	0.599	Item 40	0.468			Item 42	0.552
Item 47	0.364	Item 50	0.415			Item 43	0.585
Item 48	0.270					Item 49	0.344

Table 3.  Result from the confirmatory factor analysis (the items are divided in the predefined subscales).

Subscale I	Factor loading	Subscale II	Factor loading	Subscale III	Factor loading	Subscale IV	Factor loading	Subscale V	Factor loading
Item 1	0.486	Item 2	0.288	Item 5	0.459	Item 11	0.407	Item 3	0.380
Item 7	0.762	Item 6	0.438	Item 10	0.443	Item 12	0.580	Item 4	0.584
Item 13	0.569	Item 8	0.373	Item 21	0.548	Item 17	0.156	Item 14	0.649
Item 16	0.480	Item 9	0.370	Item 26	0.364	Item 23	0.381	Item 15	0.428
Item 20	0.545	Item 18	0.381	Item 27	0.463	Item 30	0.387	Item 19	0.477
Item 22	0.631	Item 29	0.544	Item 31	0.463	Item 33	0.372	Item 28	0.620
Item 24	0.569	Item 32	0.562	Item 41	0.531	Item 34	0.407	Item 46	0.263
Item 25	0.244	Item 37	0.492	Item 45	0.389	Item 35	0.551
Item 38	0.469	Item 39	0.028			Item 36	0.408
Item 44	0.617	Item 40	0.418			Item 42	0.557
Item 47	0.424	Item 50	0.485			Item 43	0.637
Item 48	0.302					Item 49	0.453

Note: Chi-square: p < 0.001; GFI = 0.750; AGFI = 0.726; NFI = 0.888; NNFI = 0.926; RMSEA = 0.068, p < 0.001.

Table 4.  Principal component analysis with varimax rotation for the DREEM instrument.

	Factor loadings
Variable	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	Communalities
Item 1	0.587	0.195	0.183	0.047	0.107	0.430
Item 2	0.582	0.068	−0.022	0.017	0.215	0.390
Item 3	0.321	0.201	0.144	0.151	0.165	0.214
Item 4	0.078	−0.035	0.425	0.361	0.207	0.361
Item 5	0.222	0.091	−0.006	0.588	0.214	0.449
Item 6	0.158	0.587	−0.023	0.120	0.207	0.427
Item 7	0.531	0.051	0.063	−0.053	−0.097	0.301
Item 8	0.152	0.093	0.097	0.004	0.622	0.428
Item 9	−0.160	0.140	−0.023	0.098	0.673	0.508
Item 10	0.001	0.155	0.202	0.615	0.013	0.443
Item 11	0.178	0.301	0.072	0.340	0.160	0.268
Item 12	0.521	0.142	0.116	0.285	0.068	0.391
Item 13	0.531	0.283	0.092	0.164	0.228	0.449
Item 14	0.639	0.130	0.289	0.017	−0.077	0.515
Item 15	0.269	−0.088	0.653	−0.043	0.050	0.510
Item 16	0.610	0.150	0.198	0.314	0.034	0.534
Item 17	0.109	−0.216	−0.101	0.273	0.461	0.355
Item 18	0.147	0.636	−0.011	0.112	0.181	0.472
Item 19	0.110	0.104	0.631	0.298	0.005	0.510
Item 20	0.636	0.146	0.064	0.348	0.142	0.572
Item 21	0.526	0.244	0.179	0.382	0.063	0.518
Item 22	0.492	0.348	0.218	0.243	0.098	0.479
Item 23	0.255	0.200	0.290	0.086	0.226	0.248
Item 24	0.690	0.130	0.048	0.067	0.069	0.505
Item 25	0.006	0.070	0.009	0.227	0.407	0.222
Item 26	0.021	0.213	0.177	0.201	−0.039	0.119
Item 27	0.179	0.124	0.183	0.469	0.001	0.301
Item 28	0.184	0.136	0.636	0.143	0.085	0.484
Item 29	0.284	0.593	0.086	0.084	0.151	0.470
Item 30	0.225	0.616	0.213	0.067	0.002	0.479
Item 31	0.188	0.548	0.102	0.184	−0.059	0.383
Item 32	0.147	0.721	0.147	0.041	0.149	0.587
Item 33	0.180	0.050	0.717	0.051	0.165	0.579
Item 34	0.182	0.094	0.485	0.057	0.322	0.384
Item 35	0.477	0.079	0.196	0.265	0.214	0.389
Item 36	0.074	0.127	0.269	0.617	0.062	0.479
Item 37	0.335	0.383	−0.108	0.325	0.348	0.497
Item 38	0.382	0.007	0.042	0.526	0.107	0.436
Item 39	0.073	0.075	0.181	−0.020	0.673	0.497
Item 40	0.461	0.206	−0.002	0.003	0.377	0.397
Item 41	0.434	0.382	0.175	0.317	−0.072	0.470
Item 42	0.274	0.160	0.453	0.392	0.023	0.460
Item 43	0.646	0.140	0.334	0.279	0.005	0.627
Item 44	0.609	0.101	0.224	0.369	0.067	0.572
Item 45	0.264	0.280	0.344	0.238	0.153	0.347
Item 46	−0.010	0.167	0.343	0.101	0.001	0.156
Item 47	0.220	0.143	0.037	0.392	0.128	0.240
Item 48	0.145	0.067	0.244	0.086	0.451	0.295
Item 49	−0.003	0.352	0.272	0.167	0.365	0.359
Item 50	0.198	0.203	0.177	−0.074	0.462	0.331
Eigenvalues after rotation	6.405	3.813	3.706	3.692	3.221
% explained variance	12.809	7.626	7.411	7.384	6.442
Cumulative %	12.809	20.436	27.847	35.231	41.673
Cronbach's alpha	0.892	0.766	0.787	0.709	0.704

Notes: KMO test: 0.894.

Bartlett's test of sphericity: p < 0.001.

Bold figures denote highest factor loadings for each item.