Development and content validation of the Quality in Psychology Simulation Instrument (QPSI)

Objective: The Australian psychology training landscape is changing, and simulation is increasingly being used. Therefore, it is essential for educators to accurately assess the quality of such training activities. This article outlines the development of the Quality in Psychology Simulation Instrument (QPSI), a measure for educators to evaluate the quality of Simulated Learning Activities (SLA) at all psychology training levels.

Method: Nine psychology academics with simulation expertise used an iterative cycle of item development, piloting, refinement, and redeployment to develop a consensus measure for assessing SLA, based on the postgraduate psychology SLA best-practice guidelines. Team members piloted the QPSI in their teaching areas. The revised measure was further piloted by two subject matter experts.

Results: The final 45-item QPSI possesses good face and content validity for use across undergraduate and postgraduate psychology curricula, offering user-friendly means to assess SLA quality across educational contexts.

Conclusions: The upcoming changes to Australian psychology training pathways may require increased SLA use. By offering a standardised structure and approach, the QPSI could guide SLA design, enhance cross-institutional collaboration and benchmarking, improve transparency, rigour, and quality, and facilitate compliance with accreditation standards and best-practice guidelines. Further psychometric evaluation of the instrument is warranted.