title: Assessing attitudes towards statistics among medical students: psychometric properties of the Serbian version of the Survey of Attitudes Towards Statistics (SATS).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medical statistics has become important and relevant for future doctors, enabling them to practice evidence based medicine. Recent studies report that students' attitudes towards statistics play an important role in their statistics achievements. The aim of the study was to test the psychometric properties of the Serbian version of the Survey of Attitudes Towards Statistics (SATS) in order to acquire a valid instrument to measure attitudes inside the Serbian educational context.
  
  
  METHODS
  The validation study was performed on a cohort of 417 medical students who were enrolled in an obligatory introductory statistics course. The SATS adaptation was based on an internationally accepted methodology for translation and cultural adaptation. Psychometric properties of the Serbian version of the SATS were analyzed through the examination of factorial structure and internal consistency.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most medical students held positive attitudes towards statistics. The average total SATS score was above neutral (4.3±0.8), and varied from 1.9 to 6.2. Confirmatory factor analysis validated the six-factor structure of the questionnaire (Affect, Cognitive Competence, Value, Difficulty, Interest and Effort). Values for fit indices TLI (0.940) and CFI (0.961) were above the cut-off of ≥0.90. The RMSEA value of 0.064 (0.051-0.078) was below the suggested value of ≤0.08. Cronbach's alpha of the entire scale was 0.90, indicating scale reliability. In a multivariate regression model, self-rating of ability in mathematics and current grade point average were significantly associated with the total SATS score after adjusting for age and gender.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Present study provided the evidence for the appropriate metric properties of the Serbian version of SATS. Confirmatory factor analysis validated the six-factor structure of the scale. The SATS might be reliable and a valid instrument for identifying medical students' attitudes towards statistics in the Serbian educational context.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Dejana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stanisavljevic
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Goran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Trajkovic
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Jelena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marinkovic
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Zoran
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bukumiric
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Andja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cirkovic
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Natasa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Milic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055771:Serbia; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*