Abstract
Purpose: Professional behaviors are important for professional success in undergraduate students. Accurately evaluating these behaviors can help identify strengths and weaknesses for targeted development. Evaluation of professional behaviors is challenging. Self-evaluation coupled with reviews from internship supervisors could provide students with feedback from different viewpoints which can be used to foster self-awareness and encourage reflection. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a professional behavior assessment instrument for undergraduate exercise science students. Methods: The development and validation of this assessment instrument involved three stages: 1) defining and operationalizing professional behaviors, 2) seeking feedback for internal validity, and 3) conducting pilot tests to collect data on instrument validity. The focus of stage 1 was to review the literature, define the constructs, and create a prototype survey. In stage 2, 24 participants, including internship supervisors, current undergraduate students, and alumni, assessed the instrument for face and content validity, prompting updates based on content validity ratio analysis. In stage 3, 22 students and 19 internship supervisors participated in pilot testing. Reliability analysis was conducted on both samples, where internal consistency was examined with Cronbach α and inter-item correlations. Results: By using a rigorous content validation approach, the Exercise Science Student - Professional Behavior Assessment (ESS-PBA) instrument was shown to be comprehensive, clear, and complete enough to establish its credibility in the preliminary stages. From stage 2, all 67 items in the instrument had positive Content Validity Ratios (all ³ 0.37). From stage 3, internal consistency data demonstrated robust reliability (all Cronbach's alpha values ³ 0.70 across 12 professional behavior themes). Acceptable relationships between items were observed within each theme (all mean inter-item correlations ranged from 0.32 to 0.79) across two pilot tests. Conclusions: This study yielded a professional behavior assessment instrument that can provide undergraduate students with formative feedback. The ESS-PBA instrument allows students to receive constructive input from internship supervisors and compare the results with their self-assessment. Future research should examine student perceptions of this feedback and evaluate the instrument's efficacy in helping educators craft effective interventions for enhancing student professional behaviors.
Recommended Citation
Davlin-Pater C, Filanowski PM. Development and Validation of a Professional Behavior Assessment Instrument for Undergraduate Exercise Science Students. The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice. 2025 Apr 15;23(2), Article 10.
