Development of an Instrument to Measure Student Leadership Competencies for Undergraduate Medical Programs in Yunnan, China
Keywords:
Student Leadership Competencies, Medical Students, Instrument DevelopmentAbstract
Medical students play a crucial role in shaping the future of healthcare delivery. Although clinical skills are essential, leadership abilities should be introduced early and reinforced throughout training to help students adapt to rapid changes in education and health systems and to ease their transition into professional practice. This study aimed to identify the leadership competencies relevant to medical students and to develop and validate an instrument for assessing these competencies. Using a theoretical empirical framework, a systematic literature review and content analysis was conducted, and content validity was confirmed to generate a 49-item questionnaire covering seven areas: ethics and social awareness; personal qualities; teamwork and collaboration; patient service management; patient focused; strategic leadership and adaptability; and medical knowledge and skills. The instrument was piloted with 103 undergraduate medical students at a university in Yunnan, China. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Cronbach’s alpha were applied to evaluate its validity and reliability. The results indicated that the instrument demonstrated strong convergent validity and high internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha values exceeding 0.80 for all constructs, indicating high internal consistency. Recommendations include further refinement and testing with larger, more diverse samples to enhance the instrument.
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