A New Approach to Measuring Student–Teacher Relationship in Dental Education: Validation of the Working Alliance Inventory for Education (WAI-EDU)

Background This study aimed at an initial validation of the Working Alliance Inventory for Education (WAI-EDU), an instrument to assess student–teacher relationship (STR). Methods The WAI-EDU was derived from the original Working Alliance Inventory to fit the context of higher education. Following a pre-test, the tool was applied to two different study settings. In the first study part, 81 clinical students completed the WAI-EDU at baseline, after 1 h (t1), and after 1 w (t2), to assess reliability. For comparison, a visual analogue scale (VAS) was also used to evaluate STR. In the second study part, 60 preclinical students completed the WAI-EDU at baseline and at a follow-up after 1 week of intensive education. Cronbach’s α , Pearson correlation coefficient, and Mann–Whitney U test were used for statistical analysis. Results Cronbach’s α of the WAI-EDU was higher than 0.9 at each time point in the cohort of 81 students. The test–retest-reliability was highest between baseline and t1 ( r = 0.928). Even between baseline and t2, and between t1 and t2, values higher than r = 0.8 were determined. In addition, the WAI-EDU correlated with VAS scales for strength ( r = 0.627, p < 0.01) and quality of STR ( r = 0.596, p < 0.01). After 1 week of teaching in the second cohort ( n = 60), a significantly higher WAI-EDU sum score was revealed (47.43 ± 7.46 vs. 40.73 ± 8.08, p < 0.01). During 1 week of education, similar to the WAI-EDU results, the VAS values for STR increased significantly ( p < 0.01). Conclusion The WAI-EDU demonstrated robust reliability and validity in measuring STR. These findings suggest that the WAI-EDU is a promising tool for evaluating STR.