The relationship between self-efficacy and student physician assistant clinical performance.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive relationship between student self-efficacy beliefs, achievement expectations, perceived outcome values, and subsequent clinical performance. The study investigated whether measures of self-efficacy, measures of achievement expectancy, or measures of perceived task value (relevance) correlated significantly with physician assistant clinical performance; also, it investigated whether utilizing both noncognitive criteria and cognitive criteria will improve upon the predictability of physician assistant clinical performance. The independent variables include grade point average, previous health care experience, self-efficacy, values, and outcome expectations. The research population comprised a group of approximately 300 students attending the 14 accredited programs within Pennsylvania who, at the time of the surveys, were beginning the clinical year of their professional education. Data collection methods included surveys and quantitative data sources. The data were subjected to multivariate statistical methods including multiple regression and discriminate analysis. The analysis included both correlation and regression to predict clinical performance from the noncognitive and cognitive variables. The results reveal that self-efficacy, and not just academic performance, is a significant predictor of a student's clinical performance. Utilizing both noncognitive and cognitive variables can improve upon the predictability of the student physician assistant's clinical performance.