Development and evaluation of a questionnaire to evaluate clinical dental teachers (ECDT)

To develop and test the psychometric properties (validity and reliability) of a questionnaire to evaluate clinical dental teachers.

An item (question) pool was generated with the use of a literature review, feedback from faculty staff, and from focus group discussions with dental students. Following factor analysis the validity and reliability of a revised questionnaire was assessed. This involved 148 dental students and 453 assessments of 29 clinical dental teachers.

Effective clinical dental teaching (ECDT) scores were associated with 'global ratings' of the effectiveness of clinical dental teaching (P<0.01), indicating strong criterion validity. In comparison analysis there was strong agreement between students regarding ratings of individual clinical dental teachers, indicating good construct validity. Reliability was assessed by examining internal consistency of sub-scales and overall ECDT scale, and found to be good (Cronbach alpha's > 0.80).

A valid and reliable measure to evaluate clinical dental teachers has been developed for use in a clinical academia setting, and has potential use as a quality assurance measure.