Refining and adapting the measurement properties of evidence-based practice measures for physiotherapy students

Fadi M Al Zoubi; André Bussières; Hoi Wai Chan; Kit Yat Leung; Yui Yin Ng; Ka Chun Lau; Shirley P C Ngai; Sharon M H Tsang; Arnold Y L Wong; Aliki Thomas

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0298611

Refining and adapting the measurement properties of evidence-based practice measures for physiotherapy students

PLoS One. 2024 Mar 7;19(3):e0298611. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0298611. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Fadi M Al Zoubi^{1

2}, André Bussières^{2

3

4}, Hoi Wai Chan¹, Kit Yat Leung¹, Yui Yin Ng¹, Ka Chun Lau¹, Shirley P C Ngai¹, Sharon M H Tsang¹, Arnold Y L Wong¹, Aliki Thomas^{2

3

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, SAR, China.
² Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
³ School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
⁴ Département Chiropratique, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada.
⁵ Institute of Health Sciences Education, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Abstract

Objective: There is a lack of reliable and valid evidence-based practice (EBP) measures for physiotherapy students. This study validated EBP-student (EBP-S) measures for physiotherapy students.

Methods: EBP measures developed from previous research were cross-culturally validated for use by physiotherapy students. The adapted EBP-S consisted of six measures: use of EBP, EBP activities, EBP knowledge, self-efficacy for EBP, attitudes towards EBP, and perceptions of the teaching and assessment of EBP in the curriculum. The final version was completed by physiotherapy students (n = 335). The psychometric properties for each EBP-S measure were estimated, including construct validity using Rasch model, internal consistency reliability using person separation index (PSI), test-retest reliability using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and differential item functioning (DIF).

Results: Two formative measures (use of EBP and EBP activities) were only linguistically modified for use with students. A Rasch model was applied to the other four reflective measures. For knowledge, 55% (6/11) items fit the Rasch model with chi-square fit statistic (χ2) = 34.46, p = 0.08; PSI = 0.85. For self-efficacy, 89% (8/9) items fit the Rasch model with χ2 = 25.11, p = 0.80; PSI = 0.89. For attitudes, 62% (8/13) items fit the Rasch model with χ2 = 61.49, p = 0.00; PSI = 0.71. For perception of the teaching and assessment of EBP in the curriculum, 62% (8/13) items fit the Rasch model with χ2 = 80.99, p = 0.45; PSI = 0.92. perception of the teaching and assessment of EBP in the curriculum showed DIF in three items. The ICCs ranged between 0.80 and 0.98.

Conclusions: The EBP-S measures were validated for physiotherapy students, including the testing of psychometric properties, which were not tested in the original studies. Further refinements should be considered for the use of the EBP-S with other groups of students or if changes are applied to the current curriculum.

Copyright: © 2024 Al Zoubi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

MeSH terms

Evidence-Based Practice*
Humans
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
Self Efficacy
Students*
Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

This article was supported by the corresponding author's start-up fund from the department of rehabilitation sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Grant number: P0034815). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, the decision to publish, or the preparation of the manuscript.