Validation of an instrument to evaluate the satisfaction of the professional practice in pertaining students to the program of Nutrition and Dietary

Abstract

Professional practice is a relevant process for the personal and academic development of students. It uses learning contexts located in real scenarios and enables the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary for professional practice. Objective. To design and validate an instrument designed to evaluate students' satisfaction with theirprofessional practice process. Materials and methods. Mixed-method study, non-probabilistic sample by convenience of 196 participants. The sample is formed by 20 Nutritionists and 176 students belonging to the Nutrition and Dietetics undergraduate program. The statistical software SPSS version 22 was used to analyze reliability by Cronbach's alpha and the Delphi method for content validity. An instrument with 32 items grouped in 4 dimensions was elaborated and applied to 116 students to analyze reliability. The instrument was adjusted to 25 items, and content validity was analyzed by a panel of experts. The judge’sconsensus was the foundation for developing a 29-item version grouped into 4 dimensions. This version was applied to 60 students to obtainCronbach's alpha validation. Results. The instrument presents an excellent level of reliability, with a Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of 0.927. Conclusions. The instrument designed to measure satisfaction with professional practices is a reliable and valid measure, since it allows knowing the students ‘evaluation at the end of their professional practice process.