Development of a New Scale to Measure Ambiguity Tolerance in Veterinary Students

Abstract

(max 250 words)The ability to cope with ambiguity and feelings of uncertainty is an essential element of professional practice. Research with physicians has identified that intolerance of ambiguity or uncertainty is linked to stress 1,2 and some authors have hypothesised that there could be an association between intolerance of ambiguity and burnout (e.g. Cooke et al 2013 3 ). We describe the adaptation of the TAMSAD (Tolerance of Ambiguity in Medical Students and Doctors) scale 4 for use with veterinary students. Exploratory factor analysis supports a unidimensional structure for the Ambiguity tolerance construct. Although internal reliability of the 29 item TAMSAD scale is reasonable (α = 0.50), an alternative 27 item scale (drawn from the original 41 items used to develop TAMSAD) shows higher internal reliability for veterinary students (α = 0.67). We conclude that there is good evidence to support the validity of this latter TAVS (Tolerance of Ambiguity in Veterinary students) scale to study ambiguity tolerance in veterinary students.

Comparing Tolerance of Ambiguity in Veterinary and Medical Students

“…This is a secondary analysis of data collected for the original scale refinement studies for both the TAMSAD scale 11 and the TAVS scale 8 . While in the medical student study data were collected for all five years of the medical programme, the timing of survey points for the veterinary student study meant that this was only possible for the first four years of the five year undergraduate programme, since final year veterinary students were on distributed clinical placements.…”

“…In addition, a greater degree of ambulatory practice frequently leads to high levels of independent working. Understanding ambiguity tolerance in veterinary students, and how it might change during undergraduate education, is therefore crucial for veterinary student educators 8 .…”

“…While there have been many attempts to develop scales aiming to measure the construct of tolerance of ambiguity within the medical student population, until recently 8 no attempt had been made to develop a scale for use in the veterinary student population. No research, as far as we are aware, has attempted to compare levels of tolerance to ambiguity between veterinary student and medical student populations.…”

“…This scale was recently modified for use in the veterinary student population through measuring the responses of a population of 292 Veterinary students at one veterinary school in the UK 8 . Following a process of refinement in light of data collected with veterinary students similar to that used for the original TAMSAD scale development the final 27 item TAVS (Tolerance of Ambiguity of Veterinary Students) scale was found to act as a unidimensional measure of tolerance to ambiguity with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.67.…”

Tolerance of ambiguity and psychological well‐being in medical training: A systematic review

“…It is likely that multiple factors contribute towards their increased prevalence in this population. A number of studies have proposed a link between intolerance of ambiguity or uncertainty in clinical practice and a range of outcomes, which could be considered under the broader term reduced psychological well‐being, including psychological distress, burnout and mental health disorders . Although it is widely acknowledged that ambiguity is inherent within the practice of medicine, a greater understanding of the implications of this has been slow to develop, partly due to the conceptual complexity.…”