Development and Validation of Study-to-work Transition Questionnaire, Malaysian Version, Among Occupational Therapist Graduates

Introduction: Smooth transition from study to work is crucial in preparing students for work. Although the questionnaire was used in previous studies to measure transition to work, a limited validated questionnaire is available. The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable Study-to-Work Transition Questionnaire, Malaysian Version (S2WTQMV) that can be used to identify challenges that students face during clinical posting, work readiness, and job satisfaction. Materials and methods: The development of S2WTQMV was conducted in five phases: i) a questionnaire development through literature review; ii) a content validation of the questionnaire; iii) a feasibility study of the questionnaire; iv) the distribution of the questionnaire to 130 occupational therapy alumni; and v) a construct validation of the questionnaire using the ADANCO Version 2.1.1. Results: The questionnaire’s content validity achieved I-CVI ≥0.78 and S-CVI/Ave ≥0.90. Four items with low factor loading (<0.50) and four items with low AVE were removed. The convergent validity of the questionnaire achieved AVE ≥0.50. Good construct reliability was also indicated based on the Dijkstra-Henseler’s rho, Jöreskog’s rho and Cronbach’s alpha values of more than 0.70. Conclusion: S2WTQMV is acceptable to be used as a tool to identify the challenges faced during clinical posting, work readiness and job satisfaction of graduates.