Adapting organizational culture scale into healthcare professional education: a scale validity and reliability analysis.

Background: Organizational culture significantly influences the quality of healthcare services and healthcare professional education. Although various scales exist to measure organizational culture at the undergraduate level, validated instruments specifically tailored for healthcare professional education remain scarce. The study aims to validate the adapted scale and provide empirical insights into organizational culture in healthcare professional education.

Methods: The adaptation process involved expert consultations to ensure content and face validity, followed by a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data were collected from 402 students enrolled in the Faculties of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences during the 2023-2024 academic year. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to examine the scale's structure. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega coefficients.

Results: Expert review led to the removal of redundant and unclear items, refining the scale to 30 items across five subscales: Structural Order and Formality, Belonging and Collective Responsibility, Achievement and Performance Orientation, Authority and Hierarchy, and Competition Orientation. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure (0.846) and Bartlett's test confirmed sample adequacy. Exploratory factor analysis explained 40% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable model fit indices (χ²/df = 3.37, RMSEA = 0.091, CFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.94). The scale demonstrated strong internal consistency (overall McDonald's ω = 0.878; Cronbach's α = 0.874), although lower reliability was noted for Authority and Hierarchy and Competition Orientation subscales.

Conclusions: The adapted organizational culture scale is a valid and reliable tool for assessing organizational culture in healthcare professional education. Its use is recommended for tracking cultural changes and supporting strategic educational improvements. Further validation across different institutions and cultural contexts is encouraged to reinforce its generalizability.