Know thyself: Development and validation of self-awareness of teaching skills (SATS) measuring instrument for medical teachers

Abstract

Background

Self-awareness is measured previously in the higher education however not specifically in relation to ‘effectiveness of teaching’ thus leaving a gap in the literature.

Aim

To develop and validate an instrument for medical teachers to measure the self-awareness of their teaching.

Methods

This was an instrument development multiphase mixed-method study design, based on Brookfield’s four lenses theory. The instrument was validated after administering content validity, cognitive pretesting, confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis. Contrasting groups’ method of standard setting was used to determine the cut-off scores for the levels of self-awareness of medical teachers.

Results

A 26-item preliminary draft instrument was reduced to a 19-item final instrument having four themes, that is; self-reflection, communication with students, student feedback, and peer review. Content Validity Scale was 0.92. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a model with a good-to-excellent fit and an internal consistency of 0.85. The cut-off values were calculated to be 79%, 70%, 59%, and 53% for excellent, good, average and poor self-awareness of teaching skills respectively.

Conclusion

The Self-awareness of the teaching skills instrument has excellent validity and good reliability in measuring the self-awareness of teaching skills of medical teachers.

Keywords:

• Self-awareness
• self-reflection
• students’ feedback
• peer review

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the medical educationalists for timely feedback on the instrument and the medical faculty for participating in the study.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Seema Gul

Seema Gul, MBBS, FCPS, MHPE, is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, WATIM Medical and Dental College, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Usman Mahboob

Usman Mahboob, MBBS, MPH, FHEA, DHPE, Fellow FAIMER, is an Associate Professor in Medical Education at the Institute of Health Professions Education & Research (IHPER), Khyber Medical University (KMU), Peshawar, Pakistan.

Rahila Yasmin

Rahila Yasmin, BDS, DCPS, HPE, MHPE, PhD Scholar HPE, is Professor of Medical Education and Director of MHPE Program, Riphah Academy of Research & Education, Riphah International University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Rehan Ahmad Khan

Rehan Ahmad Khan, MBBS, FCPS, FRCS, MHPE, PhD Scholar HPE, is Professor of Surgery, and Assistant Dean of Medical Education, Islamic International Medical College, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Najma Baseer

Najma Baseer, MBBS, MHPE, PhD, is Assistant Professor (Anatomy), Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Khyber Medical University Peshawar, Pakistan.

Saidul Abrar

Saidul Abrar, MBBS, MPH, PhD Scholar, is Professor of Community Medicine, Gajju Khan Medical College Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.