Background/Purpose A shortage of allied health care workers is a serious issue that presents a major healthcare challenge (Kilpatrick et al., 2007; U.S. Department of Education, 2002). Essentially, the onus of allied health education falls on higher education institutions. The purpose of this study was to develop the Scale of Allied Health Enrollment Decision (SAHED) to measure factors influencing decision making of students interested in college and university allied health programs.
Method Research participants (N = 1,123) were students enrolled in allied health education and non-allied health programs at a university or community college. IRB and informed consent were obtained prior to the study. Development of the SAHED scale was conducted through the following four stages: (a) review of literature, (b) focus group studies, (c) pilot testing, and (d) test administration and testing of measurement properties. An exploratory analysis (EFA) with alpha extraction and promax rotation and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood estimation were conducted to identify and verify factors. ANOVA and a discriminant analysis were further conducted to examine known-group and discriminant ability of the factors, respectively.
Analysis/Results EFA revealed a six-factor solution (Personal Influence, Social Influence, Academic Preparation, Career Opportunity, Individual Aspiration, and Self-Efficacy), with a total of 69.34% variance explained. These factors were confirmed by CFA. ANOVA provided evidence of known-group validity and discriminant analysis revealed that these factors were predictive of program enrollment status.
Conclusions This scale can assist universities and colleges in targeting and recruiting students into allied health programs of study.
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