title: Evidence of Reliability, Validity, and Practicality for the Canadian Physiotherapy Assessment of Clinical Performance.
abstract: Purpose:To investigate the internal consistency, construct validity, and practicality of the Canadian Physiotherapy Assessment of Clinical Performance (ACP), a descriptive measure used by physiotherapy students and their clinical instructors (CIs) at the mid- and endpoints of an internship to describe the students' behaviours as observed in the clinical education setting relative to what might be expected of an entry-level physiotherapist.Methods:This multi-centre study piloted the ACP in 10 university physiotherapy (PT) programmes. Both CIs and students undertaking clinical internships completed the ACP and the current tool, the Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument (PT-CPI; Version 1997).Results:CIs assessing PT students' performance during internships representing a variety of areas of practice completed the ACP at the midpoint (n=132) and the endpoint (n=126) of the internship. The end-of-internship sample consisted of 55 junior, 30 intermediate, and 41 senior students. The ACP demonstrated strong internal consistency: Alpha coefficients for each role ranged from 0.94 to 0.99. Aligned items on the ACP and PT-CPI were significantly correlated (r=0.51-0.84). Senior PT students performed significantly better than intermediate students, who, in turn, performed better than junior students (p<0.0001). Effect sizes for midpoint to final scores on the ACP ranged from medium to large (0.40-0.74). Participants were satisfied with the online education module that provided instruction on how to use and interpret the ACP, as indicated by satisfaction scores and qualitative comments.Conclusions:The ACP is a reliable, valid, and practical measure to assess and describe the PT students' behaviours as observed during clinical education relative to what is expected of an entry-level physiotherapist.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy; Centre for Faculty Development, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, at the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre of St. Michael's Hospital.
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: Physical Therapy Program, School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.
authors.forename: Kathleen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Norman
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy.
authors.forename: Dina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Medical Education.
authors.forename: Jodi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Herold
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto; Musculoskeletal Health and Outcomes Research, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St Michael's Hospital; Institute for Work and Health, Toronto.
authors.forename: Dorcas E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Beaton
keywords: educational measurement; internship and residency; students