Resident and supervisor perception of learning climate in public health resident training in the Netherlands

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceived quality of the learning climate by public health residents in the Netherlands and compare residents' and supervisors' perceptions. Residents of five public health subfields, who started their residency programs in 2019 and onwards, as well as supervisors involved in the residency program, were invited to complete aweb-based survey based on an adapted version of the D‑RECT questionnaire. Answers of residents and supervisors of the same training site and public health subfield were matched to compare perceived quality of the learning climate. One hundred fourteen residents responded (response rate 50.9%). Residents' overall assessment of the learning climate showed amean score of 4.19 on a5-point-scale. Thirty-eighth supervisor-resident matches were formed. There were no notable differences in the perception of residents and supervisors. Residents' overall assessment of the learning climate was positive. Supervisors and residents' perception of learning climate is equal. Our adapted version of D‑RECT seems to be suitable to evaluate the learning climate for public health residency programs in the Netherlands. Further research is necessary to validate our questionnaire and to confirm our findings.