A rating scale for the selection of internship applicants

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Psychology Training
• Human Resources in Healthcare

Background:

• Selecting qualified clinical psychology interns is crucial for training programs.
• Standardized methods are needed to objectively evaluate diverse applicant qualifications.
• Previous intern selection processes may lack consistent evaluation criteria.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of a rating scale in selecting clinical psychology interns.
• To identify which applicant variables are most predictive of intern success.
• To explore the utility of a structured rating system for graduate training admissions.

Main Methods:

• Forty-five clinical psychology internship applicants were evaluated by five staff psychologists.
• Key variables assessed included clinical experience, academic record, scholarly productivity, recommendations, and intangibles.
• Inter-rater reliability and predictive validity of the rating scale were analyzed.

Main Results:

• High majority agreement was observed for academic record (80%) and scholarly productivity (80%).
• Scholarly productivity and clinical experience emerged as the highest weighted predictors of intern scores.
• The rating scale demonstrated overall majority agreement for 64.8% of candidates, with all variables correlating positively with the total score.

Conclusions:

• The developed rating scale is a valuable tool for selecting clinical psychology interns.
• Prioritizing scholarly productivity and clinical experience in evaluations can improve intern selection outcomes.
• Utilizing such rating scales can enhance objectivity and consistency in graduate psychology training admissions.