Reliability and validity of WATCH: Warwick assessment instrument for clinical teaching

Objective: To determine the reliability, validity, feasibility, acceptability and perceived educational impact of WATCH: Warwick Assessment insTrument for Clinical teacHing among doctors in Pakistan. Study Design: Cross-sectional research study. Place and Duration of Study: The College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan, from September 2018 to August 2019. Methodology: Postgraduate trainees were asked to rate the clinical teaching sessions, using WATCH, which consists of 15 items. Percentage was used to calculate gender and participation from different specialties. Inter-item correlations of 15 items with individual mean scores, standard deviations and Cronbach's Alpha were reported, including Friedman test, in order to observe the scores across multiple conditions. The Hotelling's T² test was used to test whether the answers provided by the study participants to the questionnaire were equal. Construct validity was determined using factor analysis while feasibility, acceptability, and educational impact was evaluated by seeking participants' feedback on five semi-structured questions. Results: More than 80% ranked WATCH from good to excellent. Oveall 8 items were perceived as excellent, while 7 items received rating of good. Inter-item correlation ranged from 0.61 to 0.81. Cronbach Alpha was reported to be 0.975, with significant difference in mean scores of different items (Friedman's Chi-Square=4285.54; p<0.001). The Hotelling's T² test (21598.871 with F=185.249, df=14,2654; p<0.001) indicated that the mean values of the responses of different questions in the instrument were statiscally different. Factor analysis indicated one factor accounting for 73.97 of variance. The majority (93%) of the participants found the instrument easy to complete, most participants (91.5%) indicated it as an acceptable method of assessment, and majority (90.8%) perceived that it can improve clinical teaching. Conclusion: WATCH demonstrated valid, reliable, feasible, and acceptable results for assessment of teaching of medical doctors and it can be used for providing feedback and rewarding teachers who excel in teaching.