Emergency Medical Technician Professional Competence Perception Scale: Validity and Reliability Study

Abstract

The objective of this study was to develop a reliable and valid instrument to assess the professional competence of emergency medical technicians. This methodological and descriptive research engaged a sample of 820 students in their final year of Health Services Vocational School during the 2021-2022 academic year. The data collection period spanned from April to July 2022. The tools utilized for data collection included a Demographic Information Form, the Emergency Medical Technician Professional Competence Perception Scale (EMT-PCPS), and the Self-Efficacy-Competence Scale. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0 software packages. In order to establish the psychometric properties of the instrument, Exploratory Factor Analysis revealed a construct composed of 66 items and 4 sub-dimensions, accounting for 70.45% of the total variance. The outcomes from Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicated that the model with 65 items and 4 factors was suitable (RMSEA=.05; χ2/df=1.99). The item-total test correlation values were above .30, and the Cronbach alpha coefficient was .97, indicating high internal consistency. Furthermore, the correlation values between the test-retest scores exhibited moderate to high levels of agreement (p<.01). The results of this study suggest that the Emergency Medical Technicians’ Perception of Professional Competence Scale (EMT-PCPS) is a valid and reliable measurement tool for evaluating the professional competence perception among emergency medical technicians who are prospective professionals in their field.