| This study validates the Factors Model of Clinical Teaching in family medicine residency programs in the United States. This Model proposes that clinical teaching is an event in which multiple variables representing five factors (learner, teacher, situation, focus, and teaching approach) interact to affect the process (level of difficulty/smoothness) and the outcome of the encounter (level of effectiveness). The Model has been used for faculty development in family medicine for over twelve years but needed empirical validation. This study demonstrates the multidimensionality of the Factors Model and the effect of its variables on faculty ratings of encounter difficulty/smoothness and effectiveness. Family medicine faculty previously trained in the Factors Model described 352 teaching encounters and provided demographic and educational background information on teachers and learners for this study. Logistic and multiple regression analyses assessed the relationship between the Factors Model variables and the encounter process and outcome. Results demonstrated that multiple variables interact to predict encounter process and outcome. Further research is needed to explore the individual importance of some variables such as learner professional, cognitive, and personality development, learner and teacher gender, environmental variables in different teaching settings, and others. |
