Measuring hygiene competence: the picture-based situational judgement test HygiKo
Abstract Background With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020, the crucial role of hygiene in healthcare settings has once again become very clear. For diagnostic and for didactic purposes, standardized and reliable tests suitable to assess the competencies involved in “workin...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2021-07-01
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| Series: | BMC Medical Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02829-y |
| _version_ | 1818905757989470208 |
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| author | Susanne Katharina Heininger Maria Baumgartner Fabian Zehner Rainer Burgkart Nina Söllner Pascal O. Berberat Martin Gartmeier |
| author_facet | Susanne Katharina Heininger Maria Baumgartner Fabian Zehner Rainer Burgkart Nina Söllner Pascal O. Berberat Martin Gartmeier |
| author_sort | Susanne Katharina Heininger |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020, the crucial role of hygiene in healthcare settings has once again become very clear. For diagnostic and for didactic purposes, standardized and reliable tests suitable to assess the competencies involved in “working hygienically” are required. However, existing tests usually use self-report questionnaires, which are suboptimal for this purpose. In the present study, we introduce the newly developed, competence-oriented HygiKo test instrument focusing health-care professionals’ hygiene competence and report empirical evidence regarding its psychometric properties. Methods HygiKo is a Situational Judgement Test (SJT) to assess hygiene competence. The HygiKo-test consists of twenty pictures (items), each item presents only one unambiguous hygiene lapse. For each item, test respondents are asked (1) whether they recognize a problem in the picture with respect to hygiene guidelines and, (2) if yes, to describe the problem in a short verbal response. Our sample comprised n = 149 health care professionals (79.1 % female; age: M = 26.7 years, SD = 7.3 years) working as clinicians or nurses. The written responses were rated by two independent raters with high agreement (α > 0.80), indicating high reliability of the measurement. We used Item Response Theory (IRT) for further data analysis. Results We report IRT analyses that show that the HygiKo-test is suitable to assess hygiene competence and that it allows to distinguish between persons demonstrating different levels of ability for seventeen of the twenty items), especially for the range of low to medium person abilities. Hence, the HygiKo-SJT is suitable to get a reliable and competence-oriented measure for hygiene-competence. Conclusions In its present form, the HygiKo-test can be used to assess the hygiene competence of medical students, medical doctors, nurses and trainee nurses in cross-sectional measurements. In order to broaden the difficulty spectrum of the current test, additional test items with higher difficulty should be developed. The Situational Judgement Test designed to assess hygiene competence can be helpful in testing and teaching the ability of working hygienically. Further research for validity is needed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T21:28:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e96e86989add4818afcdb5f54c2d0acc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-6920 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T21:28:25Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Medical Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-e96e86989add4818afcdb5f54c2d0acc2022-12-21T20:05:02ZengBMCBMC Medical Education1472-69202021-07-012111810.1186/s12909-021-02829-yMeasuring hygiene competence: the picture-based situational judgement test HygiKoSusanne Katharina Heininger0Maria Baumgartner1Fabian Zehner2Rainer Burgkart3Nina Söllner4Pascal O. Berberat5Martin Gartmeier6Klinikum rechts der Isar, TUM Medical Education Center, Fakultät für Medizin, TU MünchenKlinikum rechts der Isar, TUM Medical Education Center, Fakultät für Medizin, TU MünchenDIPF | Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsforschung und BildungsinformationKlinik und Poliklinik für Orthopädie und Sportorthopädie, Fakultät für Medizin, Klinikum rechts der Isar, TU MünchenKlinikum rechts der Isar, TUM Medical Education Center, Fakultät für Medizin, TU MünchenKlinikum rechts der Isar, TUM Medical Education Center, Fakultät für Medizin, TU MünchenKlinikum rechts der Isar, TUM Medical Education Center, Fakultät für Medizin, TU MünchenAbstract Background With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020, the crucial role of hygiene in healthcare settings has once again become very clear. For diagnostic and for didactic purposes, standardized and reliable tests suitable to assess the competencies involved in “working hygienically” are required. However, existing tests usually use self-report questionnaires, which are suboptimal for this purpose. In the present study, we introduce the newly developed, competence-oriented HygiKo test instrument focusing health-care professionals’ hygiene competence and report empirical evidence regarding its psychometric properties. Methods HygiKo is a Situational Judgement Test (SJT) to assess hygiene competence. The HygiKo-test consists of twenty pictures (items), each item presents only one unambiguous hygiene lapse. For each item, test respondents are asked (1) whether they recognize a problem in the picture with respect to hygiene guidelines and, (2) if yes, to describe the problem in a short verbal response. Our sample comprised n = 149 health care professionals (79.1 % female; age: M = 26.7 years, SD = 7.3 years) working as clinicians or nurses. The written responses were rated by two independent raters with high agreement (α > 0.80), indicating high reliability of the measurement. We used Item Response Theory (IRT) for further data analysis. Results We report IRT analyses that show that the HygiKo-test is suitable to assess hygiene competence and that it allows to distinguish between persons demonstrating different levels of ability for seventeen of the twenty items), especially for the range of low to medium person abilities. Hence, the HygiKo-SJT is suitable to get a reliable and competence-oriented measure for hygiene-competence. Conclusions In its present form, the HygiKo-test can be used to assess the hygiene competence of medical students, medical doctors, nurses and trainee nurses in cross-sectional measurements. In order to broaden the difficulty spectrum of the current test, additional test items with higher difficulty should be developed. The Situational Judgement Test designed to assess hygiene competence can be helpful in testing and teaching the ability of working hygienically. Further research for validity is needed.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02829-ySituational judgement testHygieneCompetenceAssessmentItem-response theory |
| spellingShingle | Susanne Katharina Heininger Maria Baumgartner Fabian Zehner Rainer Burgkart Nina Söllner Pascal O. Berberat Martin Gartmeier Measuring hygiene competence: the picture-based situational judgement test HygiKo BMC Medical Education Situational judgement test Hygiene Competence Assessment Item-response theory |
| title | Measuring hygiene competence: the picture-based situational judgement test HygiKo |
| title_full | Measuring hygiene competence: the picture-based situational judgement test HygiKo |
| title_fullStr | Measuring hygiene competence: the picture-based situational judgement test HygiKo |
| title_full_unstemmed | Measuring hygiene competence: the picture-based situational judgement test HygiKo |
| title_short | Measuring hygiene competence: the picture-based situational judgement test HygiKo |
| title_sort | measuring hygiene competence the picture based situational judgement test hygiko |
| topic | Situational judgement test Hygiene Competence Assessment Item-response theory |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02829-y |
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