Department of Personnel Management and Work and Organisational Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Med Educ. 2013 Feb;47(2):182-9. doi: 10.1111/medu.12089.
Today's formal medical school admission systems often include only cognitively oriented tests, although most medical school curricula emphasise both cognitive and non-cognitive factors. Situational judgement tests (SJTs) may represent an innovative approach to the formal measurement of interpersonal skills in large groups of candidates in medical school admission processes. This study examined the validity of interpersonal video-based SJTs in relation to a variety of outcome measures.
This study used a longitudinal and multiple-cohort design to examine anonymised medical school admissions and medical education data. It focused on data for the Flemish medical school admission examination between 1999 and 2002. Participants were 5444 candidates taking the medical school admission examination. Outcome measures were first-year grade point average (GPA), GPA in interpersonal communication courses, GPA in non-interpersonal courses, Bachelor's degree GPA, Master's degree GPA and final-year GPA (after 7 years). For students pursuing careers in general practice, additional outcome measures (9 years after sitting examinations) included supervisor ratings and the results of an interpersonal objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), a general practice knowledge test and a case-based interview.
Interpersonal skills assessment carried out using SJTs had significant added value over cognitive tests for predicting interpersonal GPA throughout the curriculum, doctor performance, and performance on an OSCE and in a case-based interview. For the other outcomes, cognitive tests emerged as the better predictors. Females significantly outperformed males on the SJT (d = -0.26). The interpersonal SJT was perceived as significantly more job-related than the cognitive tests (d = 0.55).
Video-based SJTs as measures of procedural knowledge about interpersonal behaviour show promise as complements to cognitive examination components. The interpersonal skills training received during medical education does not negate the selection of students on the basis of interpersonal skills. Future research is needed to examine the use of SJTs in other cultures and student populations.
现今的医学院入学系统通常只包括认知导向的测试，尽管大多数医学院课程都强调认知和非认知因素。情境判断测试（SJTs）可能代表了一种创新的方法，可以在医学院入学过程中对大量候选人的人际交往能力进行正式测量。本研究考察了人际视频 SJT 在与各种结果测量相关方面的有效性。
本研究采用纵向和多队列设计，检查了 1999 年至 2002 年期间弗拉芒医学院入学考试的匿名医学院入学和医学教育数据。参与者为 5444 名参加医学院入学考试的考生。结果测量是第一年的平均绩点（GPA）、人际交往课程的 GPA、非人际交往课程的 GPA、学士学位 GPA、硕士学位 GPA 和最后一年的 GPA（7 年后）。对于从事普通科医学职业的学生，额外的结果测量（考试后 9 年）包括主管评价以及人际客观结构化临床考试（OSCE）、普通科医学知识测试和基于案例的面试的结果。
使用 SJTs 进行的人际交往能力评估对预测整个课程的人际交往 GPA、医生表现以及 OSCE 和基于案例的面试表现具有显著的附加价值，超过了认知测试。对于其他结果，认知测试成为更好的预测因素。女性在 SJT 上的表现明显优于男性（d=-0.26）。人际 SJT 被认为比认知测试更具工作相关性（d=0.55）。
作为人际交往行为程序知识的测量手段，基于视频的 SJTs 有望成为认知考试组成部分的补充。医学教育中接受的人际交往技能培训并不会否定基于人际交往技能选择学生。需要进一步研究 SJTs 在其他文化和学生群体中的应用。
