Validation of the Polish version of the Johns Hopkins Learning Environment Scale–a confirmatory factor analysis

TL;DR

This study validated the Polish version of the JHLES, a tool for assessing academic learning environments, among dental students in Poland.

Contribution

The first validation of the JHLES in Poland and Europe for dental students, confirming its reliability and validity in a Polish cultural context.

Findings

The Polish version of the JHLES demonstrated excellent overall reliability.

Confirmatory factor analysis showed structural consistency with the original JHLES model.

The JHLES is a reliable and valid instrument for analyzing the learning environment in Polish dental education.

Abstract

The Johns Hopkins Learning Environment Scale (JHLES) was developed by Robert B. Shochet, Jorie M. Colbert and Scott M. Wright of the Johns hopkins university school of medicine and consists of 28 items used to evaluate perception of the academic environment. The objective was to translate and adapt the JHLES to Polish cultural conditions and to validate the Polish version of the tool. The JHLES questionnaire was completed by students of all years (first–fifth) of the faculties of dental medicine at the Medical University of Lublin and the Medical University of Gdańsk. The total surveyed population consisted of 597 students. The overall reliability of the tool was excellent. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed in order to confirm structural consistency with the original JHLES tool. Consequently, all indices had acceptable values (close to 1 or 0, depending on the case), and there was consistency in the results, which shows that the JHLES model is supported by the data. In the present study, the JHLES has been validated in a sample of dental students for the first time in Poland and Europe. Our study provided good evidence for the reliability and validity of the Polish version of the JHLES. In conclusion, the Polish-language version of the JHLES questionnaire is a reliable and valid instrument for analysing the learning environment for students, and its factor structure is supported by the data.

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