Background: Educators agree on the importance of assessing the quality of graduate medical education. In the United States, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) resident survey is an important part of the accreditation process, yet some studies have questioned its validity.
Objective: We assessed the reliability and acceptance of the ACGME-International (ACGME-I) resident survey in the culturally distinct, nonnative English-speaking resident population of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Methods: A total of 158 residents in ACGME-I accredited institutions in Abu Dhabi received an online link to the ACGME-I survey. Reliability analysis was conducted using the Cronbach α. A focus group was then held with a convenience sample of 25 residents from different institutions and specialties to understand potential challenges encountered by survey participants.
Results: Completed surveys were received from 116 residents (73.4%). The 39 items in the survey demonstrated high reliability, with a Cronbach α of 0.918. Of the 5 subscales, 4 demonstrated acceptable to very good reliability, ranging from 0.72 to 0.888. The subscale "resources" had lower reliability at 0.584. Removal of a single item increased the Cronbach α to a near-acceptable score of 0.670. Focus group results indicated that the survey met standards for readability, length, and time for completion.
Conclusions: The ACGME-I resident survey demonstrates acceptable reliability and validity for measuring the perceptions of residents in an international residency program. The data derived from the survey can offer an important set of metrics for educational quality improvement in the United Arab Emirates.