The Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS): An alternative remodelled sub-scale structure and its reliability

Abstract

The original 4 sub-scale version of the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) was published by Luecht et al. (1990, Journal of Allied Health, 181 - 191). There appears however to be a lack of evidence of the stability of the original instrument and of the test-retest reliability of the items and sub-scales when used with undergraduates. Given that during its development only 143 subjects completed the questionnaire which contained 18 items the generalizability of the instrument should perhaps have been investigated further. The Interprofessional Learning Group (IPL) at Glasgow Caledonian University has been using both the IEPS and the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) (Parsell & Bligh, 1999, Medical Education, 33, 95 - 100) to monitor changes in attitudes and perceptions of undergraduate students from eight different health and social care programmes. This paper reports the development of an alternative sub-scale model for the IEPS based on a sample of 308 students. Various aspects of the reliability of this revised model based on a subsequent data set of 247 students are also reported. This revised model appears to be stable for use with undergraduate students yielding Cronbach Alpha values for two of the sub-scales greater than 0.80 and test-retest weighted kappa values for items being fair to moderate.

The Impact of Structured Inter-professional Education on Health Care Professional Students' Perceptions of Collaboration in a Clinical Setting

“…Our study used a mixed-methods design 24 consisting of quantitative data from the self-administered IEPS, which has been validated elsewhere, 25,26 and qualitative data from focus groups. The IEPS was used to measure students' perceptions of IPC before and after 5 weeks of clinical placement; focus groups were conducted to explore their perspectives on IPE.…”

A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Introduction of an Interprofessional Problem-based Learning Module

“…IPE was evaluated using two scales: (a) the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) ( McFadyen, Webster, Strachan, Figgins, Brown, & Kenchnie, 2005;Parsell & Bligh, 1999) and (b) the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) (Luecht, Madsen, Taugher, & Petterson, 1990;McFadyen, Maclaren, & Webster, 2007). The RIPLS is a 19 item scale where students identify their degree of agreement with statements using a fivepoint Likert scale ranging from "Strongly Agree" to "Strongly Disagree. "…”

“…The responses are scored (strongly agree=6, agree=5, somewhat agree=4, somewhat disagree=3, disagree=2, strongly disagree=1) and are combined in a prescribed manner to form the following concepts: Competency and Autonomy (items 1,3,5,7,8), Perceived Need for Cooperation (items 4 and 6), and Perception of Actual Cooperation (items 2,9,10,11,12). The validity and reliability of the RIPLS scale has been established (McFadyen et al, 2005) as has the validity and reliability of the IEPS (McFadyen et al, 2007). As this study involved evaluation of standard educational practices and the responses yielded were anonymous, it was exempt from ethical review in the institution in which the study was being undertaken.…”

Nursing Faculty's Needs of Knowledge, Beliefs, and Readiness to Implement Interprofessional Education in their Teaching: An Exploratory Study

“…Their expert status was recognized by holding a doctorate in education or health sciences and having interprofessional teaching experience. Drawing on the IEPS scale (McFadyen et al, 2007) and the National Interprofessional Competency Framework (CIHC, 2010) increased the content validity by ensuring the sampling of IPE competencies. Experts did not propose any modifications, and the survey was judged to be valid.…”