Development and validation of a tool to predict information seeking behavior of medical undergraduates, Sri Lanka.

Abstract

Information seeking behaviour is a set of actions expressing information needs, searching, evaluating, selecting, and utilization of information. The study aimed to develop and validate a tool to measure the information seeking behaviour of medical undergraduates in Sri Lanka. Final and penultimate year students in medical faculties in universities of Kelaniya, Peradeniya and Colombo, and Eastern University in Sri Lanka were invited for the study. The elements of information seeking behaviour were defined by thematically analyzing the content of focus group nine discussions with medical undergraduates. The scale was developed based on the Integrated Behavioural Model. The preliminary scale with 60 items was developed and pretested. The responses of a field test with the participation of 436 medical undergraduates were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and psychometric analysis. The tool was refined to include 40 items and the revised version was administered to 645 of medical undergraduates. The sub-components of the 40-item tool partially matched with the theoretical framework and the reliabilities of overall and sub components demonstrated high to moderate reliabilities. The tool can be used to evaluate the information seeking behaviour of medical undergraduates effectively