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Garcia-Ros R, Ruescas-Nicolau MA, Cezón-Serrano N, Flor-Rufino C, Martin-Valenzuela CS, Sánchez-Sánchez ML. Improving assessment of procedural skills in health sciences education: a validation study of a rubrics system in neurophysiotherapy. BMC Psychol 2024; 12:147. [PMID: 38486300 PMCID: PMC10941460 DOI: 10.1186/s40359-024-01643-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2023] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/17/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The development of procedural skills is essential in health sciences education. Rubrics can be useful for learning and assessing these skills. To this end, a set of rubrics were developed in case of neurophysiotherapy maneuvers for undergraduates. Although students found the rubrics to be valid and useful in previous courses, the analysis of the practical exam results showed the need to change them in order to improve their validity and reliability, especially when used for summative purposes. After reviewing the rubrics, this paper analyzes their validity and reliability for promoting the learning of neurophysiotherapy maneuvers and assessing the acquisition of the procedural skills they involve. METHODS In this cross-sectional and psychometric study, six experts and 142 undergraduate students of a neurophysiotherapy subject from a Spanish university participated. The rubrics' validity (content and structural) and reliability (inter-rater and internal consistency) were analyzed. The students' scores in the subject practical exam derived from the application of the rubrics, as well as the rubrics' criteria difficulty and discrimination indices were also determined. RESULTS The rubrics´ content validity was found to be adequate (Content Validity Index > 0.90). These showed a unidimensional structure, and an acceptable internal consistency (α = 0.71) and inter-rater reliability (Fleiss' ƙ=0.44, ICC = 0.94). The scores of the subject practical exam practically covered the entire range of possible theoretical scores, showing all the criterion medium-low to medium difficulty indices - except for the one related to the physical therapist position-. All the criterion exhibited adequate discrimination indices (rpbis > 0.39), as did the rubric as a whole (Ferguson's δ = 0.86). Students highlighted the rubrics´ usefulness for learning the maneuvers, as well as their validity and reliability for formative and summative assessment. CONCLUSIONS The changed rubrics constitute a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating the execution quality of neurophysiotherapy maneuvers from a summative evaluation viewpoint. This study facilitates the development of rubrics aimed at promoting different practical skills in health-science education.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafael Garcia-Ros
- Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Blasco Ibáñez Av. no. 21, Valencia, 46010, Spain
- Neurophysiotherapy Teaching Innovation Group, Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Gascó Oliag Street no. 5, Valencia, 46010, Spain
| | - Maria-Arantzazu Ruescas-Nicolau
- Neurophysiotherapy Teaching Innovation Group, Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Gascó Oliag Street no. 5, Valencia, 46010, Spain.
- Physiotherapy in Motion. Multispeciality Research Group (PTinMOTION), Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Gascó Oliag Street no. 5, Valencia, 46010, Spain.
| | - Natalia Cezón-Serrano
- Neurophysiotherapy Teaching Innovation Group, Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Gascó Oliag Street no. 5, Valencia, 46010, Spain
- Physiotherapy in Motion. Multispeciality Research Group (PTinMOTION), Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Gascó Oliag Street no. 5, Valencia, 46010, Spain
| | - Cristina Flor-Rufino
- Neurophysiotherapy Teaching Innovation Group, Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Gascó Oliag Street no. 5, Valencia, 46010, Spain
- Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Gascó Oliag Street no. 5, Valencia, 46010, Spain
| | - Constanza San Martin-Valenzuela
- Neurophysiotherapy Teaching Innovation Group, Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Gascó Oliag Street no. 5, Valencia, 46010, Spain
- Research unit in Clinical biomechanics - UBIC, Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Gascó Oliag Street no. 5, Valencia, 46010, Spain
| | - M Luz Sánchez-Sánchez
- Neurophysiotherapy Teaching Innovation Group, Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Gascó Oliag Street no. 5, Valencia, 46010, Spain
- Physiotherapy in Motion. Multispeciality Research Group (PTinMOTION), Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physiotherapy, University of Valencia, Gascó Oliag Street no. 5, Valencia, 46010, Spain
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