The Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS): an alternative remodelled sub-scale structure and its...

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• The original Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) lacks robust evidence of stability and test-retest reliability for undergraduate use.
• Previous validation involved a small sample (143 subjects, 18 items), limiting generalizability.
• The Interprofessional Learning Group at Glasgow Caledonian University uses IEPS and RIPLS to track student perceptions in health and social care programs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate an alternative sub-scale model for the IEPS.
• To assess the reliability and stability of the revised IEPS model for undergraduate students.
• To provide a more robust instrument for evaluating interprofessional education perceptions.

Main Methods:

• Development of an alternative IEPS sub-scale model using data from 308 undergraduate students.
• Assessment of the revised model's reliability using a subsequent dataset of 247 students.
• Analysis included Cronbach's Alpha for internal consistency and weighted kappa for test-retest reliability.

Main Results:

• The revised IEPS model demonstrated stability for use with undergraduate students.
• Two sub-scales of the revised model yielded Cronbach's Alpha values exceeding 0.80.
• Test-retest reliability, assessed by weighted kappa values for items, ranged from fair to moderate.

Conclusions:

• The revised IEPS sub-scale model offers improved reliability and stability for assessing undergraduate perceptions in interdisciplinary education.
• This validated instrument is suitable for monitoring changes in student attitudes within health and social care programs.
• The findings support the use of the revised IEPS for evaluating interprofessional learning experiences.