Determining readiness for predoctoral internship training: the process of developing a screening measure

The purpose of this study was to illustrate the development of a screening measure to assess readiness for psychology internship training. The screening measure was comprised 13 items rated on a 4-point scale. Two program faculty members reviewed the application of each candidate independently. Psychologists were arbitrarily assigned to belong to reviewer group 1 or 2. Data from group 1 were subjected to exploratory factor analysis; data from group 2 were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis. Two factors were identified and confirmed: Factor I comprised 6 items referring to core competencies, and Factor II comprised 4 items referring to relevant background experiences. Correlations between raters at the factor and item level generally were in the moderate range. This study illustrates the process of developing a screening measure to help determine readiness for internship training.