Australian chiropractic students' perceptions of education: validation of a questionnaire

This study aimed to validate a questionnaire to address an absence of a measure to evaluate Australian chiropractic students' perceptions of the quality of chiropractic programs.

Potential relevant questionnaire items were selected from the Australian chiropractic accreditation standards. Chiropractic students rated these items for clarity and relevance, which resulted in a pilot questionnaire of 47 items. Principal components analysis was used to establish the structure of the scales. Finally, intra-class correlation coefficients were used to establish the scales' test-retest reliability.

Thirty-four items were omitted resulting in the retention of 13 items that strongly loaded onto five factors. Internal consistency was adequate. The test-retest reliability ranged from adequate to good for four of the derived factors. The fifth was poor and omitted.

A valid questionnaire for assessing Australian chiropractic programs has been developed comprising four scales that enquire about: 1) quality of the educational program; 2) provision of student support services; 3) enablement of independent learning; and 4) adequacy of teaching resources.