The Development and Validation of a Professional Development Program for Health Professional Educators in Ethiopian Higher Education Context

Despite the presence of a common agreement on the importance of integrating professional development (PD) for instructors in higher education (HE), the level of progress made in that regard varies greatly across HE systems around the world. Part of the variation was due to the lack of comprehensive theories and guidelines that leverage efforts to integrate PD issues into HE system. Also, there is limited research regarding the development and revision of PD programs for instructors of health sciences in HE setting. The limited studies primarily lack a comprehensive or all-encompassing framework that capture the complexities of the program development and validation process. Rather, they are essentially impact evaluation studies, examining the short-term and long-term benefits of the programs under studies. This study offers a theoretical rationale and a three-step framework for PD program development and review in HE through presenting a case study of an innovative PD program in the Ethiopian public university context. A three-step approach that consists of curriculum development, an iterative research–based review, and collaborative revision and validation is recommended in this study, to promote a commitment to systematic planning and research-based review and revision in a PD of instructors in HE in Ethiopia and beyond.