Teacher educators’ diversity-responsive practices: instrument development for quantitative assessment

Strategic Self‐Regulation for Speaking English as a Foreign Language: Scale Development and Validation

Digital competences represent essential skills for adapting to 21st-century conditions; encompassing the safe and critical use of information society technologies for work, daily life, and communication. Determining the digital competence levels of individuals is crucial to guide interventions aimed at enhancing these competences. This study presents the development process of a Digital Competence Scale for Faculty Members (DCS-FM), designed specifically to assess the digital competence levels of higher education instructors. The data collection process took place during the 2020–2021 academic year among faculty members working at ... University in ... province of Türkiye. Researchers collected the data themselves to ensure consistency and reliability throughout the process. As part of the validity studies, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted, yielding a six-factor structure. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the six-factor structure demonstrated good model fit indices. In the process of developing the scale and conducting validity and reliability studies, data were collected from a total of 740 unique faculty members. The scale development process involved two pilot applications and one main application, with exploratory factor, confirmatory factor, and item analyses conducted throughout. Confirmatory factor analysis of the collected data yielded a 30-item scale encompassing six factors. These factors align with the European Framework for Digital Competence of Educators (known as ‘DigCompEdu’) developed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre. Based on the validity and reliability analysis results and findings, it can be concluded that the scale possesses the sufficient psychometric properties sought in the literature.

This special issue of the Journal of Education for Teaching focuses on the practical activities and material conditions of higher education-based teacher educators’ work. The articles address questions of concept and practice, discourse and labour and the ways in which teacher education as an activity of higher education is related to the institutional contexts within which the activity is located. The material conditions of academic work have become the focus of much renewed interest in higher education as a series of intellectual, cultural and economic trends (Hartley 2009) have converged so as to question the roles and responsibilities of teacher educators as a category of academic workers. Generally, research suggests that partnership teacher education, in which universities and colleges work with schools to train teachers, is highly successful and there is plentiful evidence in support of this fact (e.g. Iven 1994; Christie et al 2004; Ellis et al. 2011). However, concerns about changes to initial teacher education towards more school-led approaches persist internationally. Much contemporary policy discourse has been framed around the belief that schools are best placed to train teachers and, while there may be an implied consensus of intention to support beginners in their learning during practice, the discussions do little to suggest that the notion of a research-informed teaching profession is an aim worth addressing. Troublingly, as Christie et al. (2012) recognise, the erosion of the role of higher education in teacher education may not only lead to volatility and reductions in funding and employment opportunities in education departments but is likely, by extension, to impact adversely on research capacity in teacher education institutions. Clearly, research which explores the activities and perspectives of teacher educators, their expertise and yet their increasingly difficult positioning within higher education more generally, has the potential to inform the development of the profession from within and, importantly, the strengthening of an academic culture of teacher education.

BackgroundDisordered thinking is a condition that can manifest in not only clinical cases (e.g., psychotic disorders), but also the wider general population. However, there is no current method to measure the specific cognitive processes experienced during such a condition. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a new self-report measure, the Disorganised Thoughts Scale (DTS), that can assess disorganised thinking in the general population.MethodsTo achieve this aim, a survey was developed and shared online with four independent samples, including a sample of Australians in the general population (N = 321) and three samples (N = 200 each) that were controlled for their substance use (i.e., frequent alcohol and cannabis use; non-frequent substance use). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and reliability analyses, were used to test the internal validity, whilst correlational analyses were implemented to examine the external validity.ResultsThe exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure (10 items each) measuring Positive thought disorder (i.e., accelerated, uncontrollable, and incongruent thinking) and Negative thought disorder (i.e., inhibited, disjointed, and disorientated thinking). This internal structure was confirmed with subsequent confirmatory factor and reliability analyses (α = 0.90 to 0.97) in the three substance-controlled groups. Concurrent validity was also supported, as the DTS exhibited strong correlations with established measures of general cognitive difficulties, specific self-regulatory dysfunctions, and psychopathological symptomology. Finally, the measure was also shown to be significantly higher in cohorts who exhibited a higher degree of psychological distress and who frequently used substances (i.e., alcohol and cannabis).ConclusionsOverall, this study provided preliminary evidence to suggest that the DTS is a sound measure of disorganised thought that is linked to psychopathology and substance use in non-clinical populations. The measure could be used in future research which seeks to better understand how thinking effects, and is affected by, various psychological conditions.

Psychometric testing of the nurse professional competence scale Arabic version: An exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses

Objective To assess the reliability and validity of measurement instrument of nurses' humanistic practice ability (MIHPA).Methods By means of literature analysis,interviewing with experts and two rounds of Delphi with 17 nursing management and nursing education experts,we got preliminary evaluation questionnaire.680 nurses from three level of first-class hospital were selected by convenient sampling,who took part in the survey on nurses' humanistic practice ability.After two weeks,we re-measured 50 nurses.Such methods as exploratory factor analysis,confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis were used to screen and assess the questionnaire entries.Results The exploratory factor analysis indicated that the measurement instrument of nurses' humanistic practice ability was composed of five principal components,the five principal components could explain 65.137％ of the total variance.Confirmatory factor analysis showed x2/df=2.158,CFI=0.952,NFI=0.915,RFI=0.901,IFI=0.953,TLI=0.944.Cronbach's α of the total scale was 0.933 and retest reliability was 0.822.Reliability of each subscales was 0.782～0.867 and retest reliability was 0.782～0.848.Conclusions The measurement instrument of nurses' humanistic practice ability,which contained 5 dimensions and 23 items,has good reliability and validity. Key words: Nurse; Humanity practice ability; Measurement instrument; Reliability; Validity

Objective To develop a questionnaire which measures the nurses' perception on humanistic management of hospital.Methods By means of literature analysis and interviewing with nurses,the perception of hospital's humanistic management questionnaire for nurses was developed and used to assess the perception of 360 nurses.Such methods as correlation analysis,exploratory factor analysis,confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis were used to screen and test the questionnaire entries.Results The correlation coefficient between each item and total score was 0.523 ～0.792.The exploratory factor analysis indicated that the perception of hospital's humanistic management questionnaire for nurses was composed of five principal components,the five principal components could explain 66.997％ of the total variance.The indexes of CFA was CFI=0.983,NFI =0.925,RFI=0.907,IFI=0.983,TLI=0.979.Cronbach' α of the total scale was 0.977.Reliability of each subscales was above 0.860.Correlation coefficient between subscales and total scale ranged from 0.777 to 0.929,and that of among subscales ranged from 0.303 to 0.525.Conclusions Reliability and validity of the questionnaire on the perception of hospital's humanistic management for nurses are both satisfactory enough to meet the evaluation of hospital's humanistic management implementation. Key words: Nurses; Humanistic management; Questionnaire; Factor analysis

To the Editor: With the increase in life expectancy, the number of adults aged 60 and older will increase to 2 billion by 2050, 80% of whom will be living in developing countries.1 Falling is one of the main health problems of older adults, with approximately one-third of individuals aged 65 and older experiencing falls.2 Falls and fear of falls are related to one another, with each being a risk factor for the other.3 Fear of falls may result in avoidance of daily activities and reduction in the older adult's quality of life.4, 5 The Falls Efficacy Scale—International (FES-I) is an instrument that Prevention of Falls Network Europe (ProFaNE) designed to investigate fear of falls in older adults.6 The present study was conducted to assess the reliability and validity of a Persian version of the FES-I in Iranian older adults. Individuals aged 60 and older from a retirement center in Tabriz (Iran) who were able to speak, comprehend, read, and write Persian and were living independently in the community participated (n = 200). The study was performed between October 2012 and March 2013 after approval of the ethics committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. The FES-I is a self-report questionnaire with 16 items assessed on a four-item Likert scale (not at all concerned to very concerned).6 Cronbach alpha (internal consistency) and Spearman-Brown correlation coefficients (test–retest) were used to investigate reliability; values greater than 0.7 indicated good reliability, and values less than 0.5 indicated unacceptable reliability.7 To determine the validity of the construct, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were considered. Correlation matrix, principal axis factoring, varimax rotation, and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (KMO) were used for exploratory factor analysis.1 To evaluate the structure of the factors of exploratory factor analysis, goodness of fit of confirmatory factor analysis was conducted based on chi-square degrees of freedom (χ2/df) less than 5, goodness-of fit index (GFI), adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI) greater than 0.9, root mean square residual (RMSR) less than 0.1, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) less than 0.08, comparative fit index (CFI) greater than 0.9, normed fit index (NFI) greater than 0.9, non-normed fit index (NNFI) greater than 0.9, incremental fit index (IFI) greater than 0.9, relative fit index (RFI).7 Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 11.5 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). In all analyses, P < .05 was considered statistically significant. Cronbach alpha was 0.90 to 0.95 and Spearman-Brown correlation coefficients were 0.82 to 0.84 for the factors and total instrument. The adequacy of the factor analysis model was confirmed (KMO = 0.936 and for Bartlett test, χ2 of Bartlett test was 2,505.781, df 120, P < .05). In exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation, two factors were extracted. Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 16 from the questionnaire were loaded in the first factor, and items 11, 13, 14, and 15 were loaded in the second factor. Two extracted factors determined 67.55% of total variance changes.1 In confirmatory factor analysis, based on the comparison of the data of goodness of fit for two- and one-factor analysis and theoretical basic (χ2/df < 5, RMSR < 0.1, NFI > 0.9, NNFI > 0.9, CFI > 0.9, IFI > 0.91) and the closeness of GFI and AGFI to 0.9, there was no considerable difference in these values for three models. All relationships between the items and factors were significant (P < .05). Thus, based on this model, the structure of exploratory factor analysis for this questionnaire was confirmed in two factors (Table 1). Test–retest and internal consistency reliability in accordance with previous literature were confirmed.6, 8-10 In the investigation of factor analysis in the present study and other studies, two factors were extracted, but loaded items on each factor in the studies were different.6, 10 Based on the results of this study, the Persian version of the FES-I has good validity and reliability in community-dwelling older people. This instrument can be used as an easy, low-cost method of measuring fear of falling in Iranian older adults. This article is the result of a thesis approved by the ethics committee of Tabriz University of medical sciences no. 9161. Our gratitude goes to all the older adults participating in this study, ProFANE, and the collaboration of Persian and English translators who helped us in translating the instrument. Finally, we are grateful to the staff of the Tabriz retirement center in allowing us to conduct the research there. Conflict of Interest: The editor in chief has reviewed the conflict of interest checklist provided by the authors and has determined that the authors have no financial or any other kind of personal conflicts with this paper. Author Contributions: All authors contributed to this paper. Sponsor's Role: None.

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Individual-Level Abortion Stigma Scale.SettingThree hospitals affiliated to Public Hospitals Union General Secretariat...

Patient safety culture is measured using a range of survey tools. Many provide limited data on psychometric properties and few report findings outside of the US healthcare context. This study reports an assessment of the psychometric properties and suitability of the American Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture for use within the UK. A questionnaire survey of three hospitals within a large UK Acute NHS Trust. 1437 questionnaires were completed (37% response rate). Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analyses were carried out to assess the psychometric performance of this survey instrument and to explore potential improvements. Reliability analysis of the items within each proposed scale showed that more than half failed to achieve satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's α<0.7). Furthermore, a confirmatory factor analysis carried out on the UK data set achieved a poor fit when compared with the original American model. An optimal measurement model was then constructed via exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with split-half sample validation and consisted of nine dimensions compared with the original 12 in the American model. This is one of the few studies to provide an evaluation of an American patient safety culture survey using data from the UK. The results indicate that there is need for caution in using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture survey in the UK and underline the importance of appropriate validation of safety culture surveys before extending their usage to populations outside of the specific geographical and healthcare contexts in which they were developed.

Physical education classes may carry a higher risk of bullying than other classes due to students perceived freedom, competitive environment, limited teacher supervision, and visible physical differences. Despite these risks, research on how teachers intervene is limited, yet this study sheds light on intervention methods perceived by future teachers who are in a critical period of professional development. Therefore, this study aimed to translate, adapt, and validate The Handling Bullying Questionnaire (HBQ) among physical education teacher candidates (PETC) in Hungary. A total 170 PETC completed the HBQ that measures the likelihood of using the strategies in a hypothetical bullying scenario. Linguistic adaptation was carried out using the back-translation technique. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and reliability analysis are used to examine the structure of the scale. Based on exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, a construct with 22 items and 5 factors replicated the same measurement results with the previous studies. The scale explains 58.82% of the total variance. Cronbach alpha values ranged from 0.692 to 0.750. The results indicate that PETCs are not in favor of ignoring bullying but are more inclined toward authority-based strategies and involve others in the incident, while tending to work less with victim. It was determined that the strategies varied according to gender, age, and year of study. Findings indicate that Hungarian version of HBQ is a valid and reliable measurement tool for PETCS.

Workplace incivility is defined as low-intensity deviant behavior with ambiguous intent to harm the target. In this sense, it involves a violation of workplace norms that could damage the quality of working relationships. The aim of this study is to evaluate the factor structure of the adaptation of Straightforward Incivility Scale (SIS; Leiter 2013) in an Italian sample. A sample of 404 healthcare workers completed the SIS. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. In the first step of analysis, exploratory factor analysis and parallel analysis with 202 participants revealed three factors: supervisor, coworker, and instigated incivility. In the second step, a confirmatory factor analysis with 202 participants supported the 15-item three-factor model in the cross-validation sample. Results provide confirmation of the cross-cultural stability of the facet, factor, and global scale structure of the SIS.

Objective:The aim of this study is to adapt Khalfa Hyperacusis Questionnaire (HQ) into Turkish for the use in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with hyperacusis.Method:HQ and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were administered to a total of 529 participants (320 female, 209 male), aged 18 to 73 (mean age: 29.76±10.59) years who were randomly selected from the general population. For the evaluation of the data, confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis, correlation analysis, descriptive statistics, t-test, analysis of variance, and Sidak correction test were used.Results:In the reliability analysis, the Cronbach’s alpha (aC) internal consistency coefficient was found to be 0.81. Factor analysis revealed three subdimensions (attentional, social, and emotional). The total variance of these three subdimensions were 63%, and the internal consistency of the subdimensions was also high (αC >0.70). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling results indicated that three-factor solutions with 14 items met the criteria for the adequacy of fit among the Turkish patients. The mean score for hyperacusis was estimated as 15.69±6.63 points.There was a positive, weak, but significant association between hyperacusis and anxiety (r=0.357, p=0.01, p<0.05). The patients who were exposed to noise were found to have higher levels of hyperacusis, compared to those who were not (t=6.78, p=0.01, p<0.05). The patients who had decreased noise tolerance over time were found to be higher hyperacusis levels than those without (t=4.83, p=0.01, p<0.05).ConclusionBased on these measurements, 14 questions and three-factor solutions were found to be a valid and reliable tool.

This study aimed to investigate the latent constructs in the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale using a research context of Japanese undergraduates who learn English as a foreign language. The study conducted both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis against two different groups of Japanese undergraduate students. First, exploratory factor analysis was used to extract factors from 33 items of the scale in its application to 149 management major students. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the factors from the exploratory factor analysis. Data from 237 English language learners at two universities—155 undergraduates at a foreign study university and 82 at a general university—were applied to test a hypothetical model in relation to the extracted latent constructs. Results of the two factor analyses identified and confirmed two underlying components of the scale: (1) communication apprehension and (2) fear of failing. The model fit statistics illustrated that the two-factor paradigm appropriately fit the data from the second undergraduate group. Implications of the results are discussed.

Despite the importance of feedback quality in educational contexts, the availability of comprehensive, valid, and reliable tools for assessing feedback quality remains limited. The objective of this study was to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool for evaluating the perceived quality of feedback in a comprehensive manner. The study was conducted with the participation of 847 pre-service teachers from a range of grade levels and teacher education programmes (322 second-year, 272 third-year, 253 fourth-year; 52.18% female, 47.82% male) studying at a public university's Faculty of Education. Participants were selected from various teaching programs. The scale was developed in three stages: item development, scale development, and scale evaluation. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to examine the factor structure of the assessment tool. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted with data collected from 531 undergraduate students, followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with data from another group of 316 undergraduate students. The EFA results revealed a five-factor structure consistent with the theoretical framework: cognitive orientation, metacognitive orientation, affective orientation, quality of presentation, and quality of content. These five factors explained 52.53% of the total variance. The CFA demonstrated that the model's fit indices exceeded the acceptable thresholds (CFI=.95, RMSEA=.05, TLI=.94). The reliability analyses showed that the Cronbach's Alpha (.78 - .93) and McDonald's Omega (.77 - .93) coefficients for the scale dimensions were within acceptable ranges, confirming the scale's reliability. Consequently, a valid and reliable 25-item scale with five dimensions was developed to measure the perceived quality of feedback.