A study of internal structure validity for the American board of surgery in training examination.

IF 2.7 3区医学 Q1 SURGERY

American journal of surgery Pub Date : 2025-01-03 DOI:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2025.116184

Taylor M Carter, Ting Sun, Andrew Jones, Brigitte K Smith

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: As principles of competency-based medical education are implemented into graduate medical education [GME] programs, it is imperative that the assessments employed are reliable and valid. Internal structure is a core component of validity evidence that has been under studied. In this study, we examined elements of the internal structure for the American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination [ABSITE].

Methods: This national retrospective cohort study utilized performance data for general surgery residents from 2018 to 2023 to determine aspects of the internal structure for the ABSITE. The item difficulty, item discrimination, internal consistency, and dimensionality of the exam were calculated.

Results: 55,986 unique test results were obtained in the study. The ABSITE exhibits strong reliability, (Cronbach's alpha >0.9), and appropriate item difficulty (0.66) and item discrimination index (>0.2) for a formative examination. Results of the exploratory factor analysis reveals that the ABSITE is unidimensional.

Conclusions: The ABSITE is a unidimensional examination with strong reliability. Furthermore, the item difficulty and item discrimination levels of the exam are appropriate for a formative test. Future studies utilizing consensus methods could be employed to determine what specific construct is measured by the ABSITE.

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美国外科委员会培训考试内部结构效度研究。

背景：随着以能力为基础的医学教育原则在研究生医学教育[GME]项目中的实施，所采用的评估是可靠和有效的势在必行。内部结构是效度证据研究的核心组成部分。在这项研究中，我们检查了美国外科培训考试委员会（ABSITE）的内部结构要素。方法：这项全国回顾性队列研究利用2018年至2023年普外科住院医师的表现数据来确定ABSITE内部结构的各个方面。计算了试题的难度、辨别力、内部一致性和维度。结果：本研究获得了55,986个独特的检测结果。ABSITE具有较强的信度（Cronbach's alpha >0.9），项目难度（0.66）和项目辨别指数（>0.2）适合于形成性考试。探索性因子分析结果显示ABSITE是单维的。结论：ABSITE是一种单维度检查，可靠性强。此外，考试的题目难度和题目辨别力水平适合于形成性测验。利用共识方法的未来研究可以用来确定ABSITE测量的具体结构。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

American journal of surgery 医学-外科

CiteScore

5.00

自引率

6.70%

发文量

570

审稿时长

56 days

期刊介绍： The American Journal of Surgery® is a peer-reviewed journal designed for the general surgeon who performs abdominal, cancer, vascular, head and neck, breast, colorectal, and other forms of surgery. AJS is the official journal of 7 major surgical societies* and publishes their official papers as well as independently submitted clinical studies, editorials, reviews, brief reports, correspondence and book reviews.