Validation of the Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Survey (ICCAS) retrospective pre-test...

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Interprofessional Education Assessment
• Collaborative Practice Skills Measurement

Background:

• Assessing Interprofessional Education (IPE) effectiveness is crucial.
• Current IPE assessment tools, like the Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Survey (ICCAS), often use retrospective pretests, risking recall and social desirability bias.
• A modified ICCAS administration using a true pretest was proposed to mitigate these biases.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate the standard ICCAS administration by comparing it with a true pretest design.
• To investigate the impact of recall and social desirability bias on ICCAS retrospective pretest scores.
• To provide evidence supporting the reliability of the standard ICCAS methodology in evaluating collaborative practice skills.

Main Methods:

• Implemented a study design incorporating a true ICCAS pretest and retrospective pretest before and after IPE experiences.
• Administered the ICCAS to students (N=745 in Fall, N=599 in Spring) from multiple health professions programs across two semesters.
• Analyzed differences between true pretest, retrospective pretest, and posttest scores to assess bias.

Main Results:

• True ICCAS pretest scores were not significantly different from retrospective pretest scores in both study samples.
• Effect sizes for pretest to posttest gains were marginally smaller when using true pretest scores.
• The standard ICCAS administration method was not adversely affected by recall or social desirability biases.

Conclusions:

• The findings support the validity and reliability of the standard ICCAS administration using retrospective pretests.
• The study provides confidence in using ICCAS for assessing collaborative practice skills in IPE.
• The standard ICCAS methodology is robust against common biases, ensuring accurate evaluation of IPE effectiveness.