A Five-Minute Situational Judgment Test to Assess Empathy in First-Year Student Pharmacists

Objective. To design, implement, and evaluate the utility of a situational judgment test (SJT) to assess empathy in first-year student pharmacists as part of an end-of-year capstone experience. Methods. First-year students completed a five-minute SJT in lieu of a multiple mini interview (MMI) during the end-of-year capstone. For each SJT item, students selected the two most appropriate response options from a list of five. Various strategies to score the SJT were compared to evaluate the psychometric properties of the test. Student performance on the SJT was examined in relationship to performance on other measures, (eg, MMI stations, personality assessments, and admissions data). Results. A total of 135 first-year pharmacy students completed an average of 9.5 items. Scoring keys based on subject matter experts' and student responses demonstrated high reliability. There was a positive, weak relationship between student performance on the SJT and performance on the adaptability station used in the capstone, and an inverse, weak relationship with students' agreeableness scores. Conclusion. This study suggests that the SJT may be a feasible and efficient assessment strategy in pharmacy education. Additional research is needed to inform SJT design, implementation, and interpretation.