Systematic Development and Validity Evidence for a Checklist to Assess Bed Mobility Skills Among Physical Therapy...

Area of Science:

• Clinical assessment in health professions education
• Physical therapy clinical skills evaluation
• Instrument development and validation

Background:

• Accurate assessment of clinical skills is crucial for health professions students.
• The study addresses the need for valid tools to evaluate physical therapy students' bed mobility performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a checklist for assessing physical therapy students' bed mobility skills.
• To ensure the checklist possesses strong validity evidence for accurate performance assessment.

Main Methods:

• A 4-step process including evidence review, Delphi review, pilot testing, and editing was used.
• Consensus was achieved through multiple Delphi rounds with expert participants.
• Interrater reliability (IRR) was assessed using recorded exam simulations.

Main Results:

• A 48-item checklist was developed, achieving consensus after three Delphi rounds.
• Substantial IRR was found, with 88.5% agreement and a Cohen's kappa of 0.61.
• The checklist demonstrated strong reliability for assessing bed mobility skills.

Conclusions:

• The developed checklist can assess student readiness for bed mobility tasks in initial clinical experiences.
• It serves as a methodological template for future clinical skills checklist development.
• This validated tool supports accurate evaluation of physical therapy students' clinical competency.