Development of a New Vagina Examination Model for Learning How to Assess Cervical Effacement and Dilatation

Abstract

An effective vaginal examination model for assessment of cervical effacement and dilatation is important for helping learners to better understand and enhance practice skills before entering clinical practice with patients. The objective of this study was to develop and test the effectiveness of a new model for learning how to assess cervical dilatation and effacement. The process consisted of three steps. First one was to develop a new vaginal examination learning model, which requires the use of a silicone as well as automatic dilatation of cervix. Second step was to determine the research instruments, which consisted of an interview guide as well as an evaluation form on quality of model. Both were examined   by experts for content validity. Content validity Item Objective Congruence (IOC) were at the 0.62 and 0.65 levels, respectively. The reliability by re-test was measured with 10 nursing students, yielding the 0.72 and 0.74 levels, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation. Final step was the valuation of the new model for vagina examination with the goal of assessing cervical effacement and dilatation.

Based on the pilot test and evaluation, the learning model was found to be at a good level of effectiveness in terms of students learning skills for assessing cervical dilatation. This vaginal examination learning model was useful as a teaching example for explaining and assessing effacement and dilatation, but internal components of silicone need to be enhanced so to be more realistic.