The Development of the Engagement Scale for Simulation-Based Education: Item Generation and Early Psychometric...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Education
• Medical Simulation
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Simulation-based education (SBE) is vital in healthcare training.
• Learner engagement is crucial for knowledge retention in SBE.
• Existing engagement scales lack specificity for SBE.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and provide initial validation for the Engagement Scale for Simulation-Based Education (ESSBE).
• To create a self-report tool measuring behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and social engagement dimensions in SBE.
• To address the need for a SBE-specific engagement measurement.

Main Methods:

• Mixed methods approach including item generation, expert review, and cognitive pretesting.
• Administered an 18-item questionnaire to 402 healthcare learners post-simulation.
• Assessed reliability (Cronbach's alpha, Spearman's rho) and dimensionality (CFA, metric invariance).

Main Results:

• An 11-item, 4-dimensional model demonstrated the best fit (CMIN/3.3, CFI/0.945, TLI/0.91, SRMR/0.055, RMSEA/0.075).
• Reliability was supported (alphas ≥ 0.610; rho r(401) ≥ 0.434, P < 0.01).
• Metric invariance was established.

Conclusions:

• Initial evidence supports the 11-item, 4-dimension ESSBE as a potentially reliable and valid measure of engagement in SBE.
• Further validation studies are needed, including convergent/divergent validity and association with learner outcomes.
• The ESSBE requires additional testing before widespread clinical adoption.