(202) Validation of an Instrument to Assess Student Pharmacist Self Authorship

Objective : To validate a survey instrument assessing self-authorship–the ability to internally identify beliefs, identity, and relationships–amongst student pharmacists.

Methods: All student pharmacists at two public, 4-year PharmD programs were invited to complete a voluntary, anonymous survey measuring student self-authorship . The instrument was adapted for student pharmacists from existing validated survey instruments in medical education based on the Baxter Magolda self-authorship theory. To ensure validity and reliability among student pharmacists, structural equation modeling and Chronbach’s alpha was used to analyze three factors (Career Development, Data Interpretation & Decision Making, and Ethics & Values).

Results: 157 surveys were completed. Analysis found that results from the two institutions have an acceptable fit for the Career Development and Data Interpretation & Decision Making factors, with the Ethics and Values factor having a poor model fit (RMSEA = 0.08, 0.09, 0.29 respectively). Each factor yielded a good level of internal consistency for the current stage of research (ɑ = 0.49, 0.52, 0.72 respectively).

Conclusions: The development of an instrument to assess self-authorship among student pharmacists is meaningful and has wide-reaching applicability to assess and inform students in their path to values exploration and determining their path and as a step in professional identity formation. The adaptation of surveys aligned with the profession has resulted in an instrument that is valid and reliable for the current stage of research. An approach to examine items and potential ambiguity will lend itself to increase reliability. Next steps include using the validated instrument resulting from this research to determine if particular educational interventions impact self-authoring.