Panthumas Suphawadee, Zaw Kaung, Kittipichai Wirin
Department of Family Health, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
J Educ Eval Health Prof. 2024;21:37. doi: 10.3352/jeehp.2024.21.37. Epub 2024 Dec 10.
This study aimed to develop and validate the 21st Century Skills Assessment Scale (21CSAS) for Thai public health (PH) undergraduate students using the Partnership for 21st Century Skills framework.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 727 first- to fourth-year PH undergraduate students from 4 autonomous universities in Thailand. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires between January and March 2023. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to explore the underlying dimensions of 21CSAS, while confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the hypothesized factor structure using Mplus software (Muthén & Muthén). Reliability and item discrimination were assessed using Cronbach's α and the corrected item-total correlation, respectively.
EFA performed on a dataset of 300 students revealed a 20-item scale with a 6-factor structure: (1) creativity and innovation; (2) critical thinking and problem-solving; (3) information, media, and technology; (4) communication and collaboration; (5) initiative and self-direction; and (6) social and cross-cultural skills. The rotated eigenvalues ranged from 2.12 to 1.73. CFA performed on another dataset of 427 students confirmed a good model fit (χ2/degrees of freedom=2.67, comparative fit index=0.93, Tucker-Lewis index=0.91, root mean square error of approximation=0.06, standardized root mean square residual=0.06), explaining 34%-71% of variance in the items. Item loadings ranged from 0.58 to 0.84. The 21CSAS had a Cronbach's α of 0.92.
The 21CSAS proved be a valid and reliable tool for assessing 21st century skills among Thai PH undergraduate students. These findings provide insights for educational system to inform policy, practice, and research regarding 21st-century skills among undergraduate students.
本研究旨在使用21世纪技能合作组织框架开发并验证适用于泰国公共卫生专业本科学生的21世纪技能评估量表（21CSAS）。
对泰国4所自治大学的727名公共卫生专业本科一至四年级学生进行了横断面调查。2023年1月至3月期间，通过自填问卷收集数据。探索性因素分析（EFA）用于探索21CSAS的潜在维度，同时使用Mplus软件（Muthen & Muthen）进行验证性因素分析（CFA）以检验假设的因素结构。分别使用Cronbach's α系数和校正后的项目与总分相关性评估信度和项目区分度。
对300名学生的数据集进行的探索性因素分析显示，该量表包含20个项目，具有六因素结构：（1）创造力与创新；（2）批判性思维与问题解决；（3）信息、媒体与技术；（4）沟通与协作；（5）主动性与自我导向；（6）社会与跨文化技能。旋转后的特征值范围为2.12至1.73。对另一个427名学生的数据集进行的验证性因素分析证实模型拟合良好（卡方/自由度 = 2.67，比较拟合指数 = 0.93，塔克 - 刘易斯指数 = 0.91，近似误差均方根 = 0.06，标准化残差均方根 = 0.06），解释了各项目34% - 71%的方差。项目载荷范围为0.58至0.84。21CSAS的Cronbach's α系数为0.92。
21CSAS被证明是评估泰国公共卫生专业本科学生21世纪技能的有效且可靠的工具。这些发现为教育系统提供了见解，以便为有关本科学生21世纪技能的政策、实践和研究提供参考。
