Psychometric investigation of competency benchmarks

What is it about?

The current study responds to calls for greater understanding of competency benchmarks within psychology training programs. Data drew from supervisors’ ratings of competency pertaining to 94 preinternship doctoral trainees enrolled in prepracticum, internal practicum, or external practicum within any of 3 accredited doctoral (PhD) programs in the department of psychology of a large, public university. Many-facet Rasch measurement, an item response theory (IRT) approach used when there are multiple raters of repeated individuals over time, was used to analyze 270 competency evaluations. Supervisor ratings of competency were found to fit the Rasch model specified. Foundational competencies were rated as significantly higher than functional competencies and competencies improved significantly across training levels (prepracticum, internal practicum, external practicum). Item difficulties are provided and implications are discussed.

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