title: Application of the diligence inventory in dental education.
abstract: The fifty-five-item Diligence Inventory for Higher Education (DI-HE) was applied to a new subject group--190 dental students. After item and factor analysis, a fifty-item (four subscale) inventory best reflected this group. The DI-HE's split half reliability was 0.81 (p < 0.001), the reliability coefficient for the pre- and post-test was 0.68 (p < 0.01), and the correlation coefficient alpha was 0.90. The DI-HE scores were high, with no statistical differences among the four classes. Overall, significant relationships were found between grade point averages (GPAs) and DI-HE total and subscale scores, with r values as high as 0.44. While female students' DI-HE scores were significantly higher (p = 0.023) than male students' scores, no correlations between DI-HE scores and GPAs for females were found. The results suggest that DI-HE may be useful for assessment purposes in professional education.
authors.affiliation: Restorative Department, Case Western Reserve University, School of Dentistry, Cleveland, OH 44106-4905, USA.
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Jasinevicius
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bernard
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Schuttenberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention; D004497:Education, Dental; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012067:Religion; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D012925:Social Conformity; D012941:Social Responsibility; D013335:Students, Dental