DREEM ON: Validation of the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure in Pakistan

Objectives: To validate DREEM in medical education environment of Punjab, Pakistan. Methods: The DREEM questionnaire was anonymously collected from Final year Baccalaureate of Medicine; Baccalaureate of Surgery students in the private and public medical colleges affiliated with the University of Health Sciences, Lahore. Data was analyzed using Principal Component Analysis with Varimax Rotation. Results: The response rate was 84.14 %. The average DREEM score was 125. Confirmatory and Exploratory Factor Analysis was applied under the conditions of eigenvalues 1 and loadings 0.3. In CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS, Five components were extracted accounting for 40.10% of variance and in EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS, Ten components were extracted accounting for 52.33% of variance. Total 50 items had internal consistency reliability of 0.91 (Cronbach s Alpha). The value of Spearman-Brown was 0.868 showing the reliability of the analysis. In both analyses the subscales produced were sensible but the mismatch from the original was largely due to the English-Pakistan contextual and cultural differences. Conclusion: DREEM is a generic instrument that will do well with regional modifications to suit individual, contextual and cultural settings.