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Investigating physiotherapy stakeholders' preferences for the development of performance-based assessment in practice education.

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posted on 2023-03-01, 11:47 authored by Anne O'Connor, Nicolas Krucien, Peter Cantillon, Melissa ParkerMelissa Parker, Arlene Mc CurtinArlene Mc Curtin
Objectives Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are used in healthcare to measure the relative importance that stakeholders give to different features (or attributes) of medical treatments or services. They may also help to address research questions in health professional education. Several challenges exist regarding the performance-based assessment process (PBA) employed in physiotherapy practice-based education, a process which determines students’ readiness for independent practice. Evidence highlights many commonalities among these challenges, but it is unknown which factors are the most important to stakeholders. The use of DCE methodology may provide answers and help to prioritise areas for development. Thus, this study employed DCE to identify clinical educators’, practice tutors and physiotherapy students’ preferences for developing the PBA process in physiotherapy. Design Attributes (aspects of the PBA process known to be important to stakeholders) were derived from focus group interviews conducted with three groups; physiotherapy students, clinical educators (practising clinicians) and practice tutors (dedicated educational roles in the workplace). These attributes included the PBA tool, grading mechanisms, assessors involved, and, feedback mechanisms. Preferences for each group were calculated using a logistic regression model. Results Seventy-two students, 124 clinical educators and 49 practice tutors (n = 245) participated. Priorities identified centred primarily on the mandatory inclusion of two assessors in the PBA process and on refinement of the PBA tool. Conclusion Employment of DCE enabled the prioritisation of stakeholder-informed challenges related to PBA in physiotherapy practice-based education. This corroborates findings from previous qualitative work and facilitates a prioritised pathway for development of this process.

Funding

Development of a structure identification methodology for nonlinear dynamic systems

National Research Foundation

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History

Publication

Physiotherapy; 108, pp. 46-54

Publisher

Elsevier

Note

peer-reviewed

Other Funding information

HRB

Rights

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Physiotherapy. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Physiotherapy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physio.2020.04.003

Language

English

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  • Health Research Institute (HRI)

Department or School

  • Allied Health
  • Physical Education and Sports Science

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