Development and psychometric properties of the assessment questionnaire for the process of the tutorial action plan

Abstract

BackgroundInternationally, most countries recognize the right of the student to receive assistance from teachers and tutors. The Tutorial Action Plan is a teaching tool that aims to promote academic, personal, and professional development in students. It is important to monitor this process of tutoring to be able to provide appropriate guidance to nursing students throughout their education. ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to design and validate an instrument to measure and monitor nursing students' perceptions of the Tutorial Action Plan process. MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study conducted in two phases. The first consisted of the development of the Assessment Questionnaire for the Process of the Tutorial Action Plan through discussion groups and participant consensus. With 35 items related to the tutoring process, the questionnaire was designed to monitor the impact of that process. The items were grouped into four dimensions: Usefulness of the Tutorial Action Plan, Opinion about Tutor and Development of the Tutorial, Development of the Degree Final Project, and Usefulness and Completeness of the Learning Folder. In the second phase the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were evaluated, utilizing a sample of 410 nursing students. Reliability was measured by means of internal consistency, and construct validity was measured by means of confirmatory factor analysis. ResultsThe overall Cronbach's alpha was 0.93, ranging from 0.73 to 0.92 for the dimensions. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model fitted a four-factor structure. ConclusionsThe results indicate that the Assessment Questionnaire for the Process of the Tutorial Action Plan is a valid and reliable assessment tool. This instrument is essential in monitoring the impact of tutoring of nursing students throughout their time in the program, both from a global perspective of the construct of tutoring and from the perspectives of the four dimensions identified.