Evaluating clinical competence of physical therapy students. Part 2: assessing the reliability, validity and usability of a new instrument.

Abstract

This study was conducted to establish the reliablity and validity of an instrument designed to evaluate the clinical competence of physical therapy (PT) students. A criterion-referenced evaluation instrument--the Evaluation of Clinical Competence (ECC)--was developed by the investigator according to the procedures recommended in the measurement literature. This behaviourally-anchored, four-point rating scale was tested on two groups of PT students from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. In order to obtain data by which to analyze and revise the ECC, the ECC was administered to fourth-year PT students (n = 29) during their clinical placement in November 1982, according to specified instructions. The revised ECC was administered to third-year (n = 23) and fourth-year PT students (n = 25) during their clinical placements in February and March of 1983. The same instructions were followed in order to collect the necessary data to establish inter-rater reliability, concurrent validity, and construct validity of the ECC. The results of the study suggest that the ECC is a fairly reliable, valid, and practical instrument with which to assess the clinical competence of PT students.