Validation of the Revised American Physical Therapy Association Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument...

Validation of the revised American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument (PT CPI 3.0) is essential to ensure that we are effectively assessing Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students' clinical performance. The purpose was to validate the revised PT CPI 3.0 for use with DPT students as a measure of clinical performance.

A descriptive and exploratory combined cross-sectional retrospective and prospective cohort design was used. University DPT students' clinical education experiences were explored. Participants were selected using a convenience sample of 693 DPT students from 1 US multicampus DPT program(s) during Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 clinical education experiences. DPT students on (1) integrated (ICE) and (2) 2 terminal clinical education experiences (TCE I and TCE II) participated in the study. Clinical instructor PT CPI 3.0 item ratings of DPT students at midterm and final assessments during clinical education experiences were investigated. Descriptive and inferential statistics evaluated differences between clinical instructor PT CPI 3.0 item ratings of DPT students during clinical education experiences.

The PT CPI 3.0 demonstrated good internal reliability, and factor analysis with a 1-factor solution explained 81.3% of variance. Construct validity was supported by significant differences in PT CPI item scores between DPT students on ICE and each of TCE I and TCE II. Construct and convergent validity were supported by significant score increases from midterm to final assessments for DPT students on ICE and TCEs and by moderate to large correlations between prior clinical experiences and remaining didactic coursework.

Findings support validity of the revised PT CPI 3.0 as a measure of clinical performance. A limitation is that this study did not assess rater reliability.

This study provides preliminary support for validation of the newly revised APTA PT CPI 3.0 as a measure to assess entry-level physical therapist student clinical performance.