Instruments to evaluate undergraduate healthcare student learning styles globally: A scoping review

Abstract

Background: Recognizing learning styles is important to maximizing learning outcomes and many instruments are available to investigate learning styles.

Objective: To investigate instruments with evidence of validity and reliability most commonly used to evaluate undergraduate healthcare student learning styles globally.

Method: This scoping review of literature was guided by The Joanna Briggs Institute's recommendations for conducting scoping reviews and the PRISMA-ScR (extension for scoping reviews). The protocol is available for access.

Data sources: Databases searched included Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. Inclusion criteria were: fully accessible; written in English, Portuguese, or Spanish; and used reliable and/or validated instruments to describe healthcare student learning styles. Articles were excluded if the sample included healthcare professionals, there was no report of the instrument validity and reliability, or was not fully accessible. Data were extracted from each article and entered into Microsoft Office Excel documents for analysis.

Results: Forty-seven articles were selected for full review, including cross-sectional, interventional, and longitudinal studies. Eleven instruments were identified with evidence of reliability and validity for assessing undergraduate healthcare student learning styles globally. The most frequently used instruments were Visual, Aural, Read-Write, and Kinesthetic; Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory; and the Honey-Alonso Questionnaire. Most instruments were developed based on a theoretical framework and/or model.

Conclusion: This scoping review adds to the literature an overview of available instruments which measure healthcare student learning styles with evidence of both reliability and validity. The results indicate the need for further studies to improve learning style instruments for use in intervention studies aimed at improving the teaching-learning process for healthcare students.

Keywords: Health occupations; Learning; Predominant learning styles; Scoping review; Students; Survey and questionnaires; Validity.