Physiotherapy students display reasonably accurate self-assessment skills following a multiple-choice anatomy examination

Purpose / hypothesis Student self-assessment can promote more meaningful learning [2] and is a key component in formative assessments [1], but little is known about the accuracy of physiotherapy students self-assessments. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of a posteriori self-assessment ability following a multiple-choice anatomy examination by first-year physiotherapy students. Subjects Fifty-three physiotherapy students (N = 29 female) enrolled in their first year were invited to voluntarily participate in the study. Subjects entered the study after providing their written informed consent. Material / Methods A five-point Likert scale based self-assessment questionnaire was used to measure students’ a posterior self-assessment ability, on eleven pre-defined anatomical topics, ten days following examination. Upon completion of the self-assessment questionnaire, the students received an objective performance assessment based on the same questionnaire format. Normality of the data was assessed by the Shapiro-Wilks test. The accuracy of student self-assessment was investigated by the relation between self-assessment and the objective performance using Pearson correlation analysis and analysis of variance (RM ANOVA). Between-groups analysis was made using RM ANOVA with post hoc test using a Bonferroni correction to account for multiple comparisons. Results Results showed that a priori self-assessment was moderately accurate compared to the objective performance following examination (r ranging from 0.31 to 0.768). Students assessed their own ability significantly lower than the objective assessment in five topics (P < 0.024). A non-significant tendency was found indicating that students also assessed their own performance lower than the objective performance in five of the remaining six topics. There were no differences in self-assessment ability between male and female students (P = 0.526) Conclusions Physiotherapy students have reasonably accurate self-assessment skills and generally underestimated their competences in relation to anatomy. Educational / Clinical relevance Self-assessment is an important life-long skill [3] hence there could be precarious consequences for physiotherapist with inaccurate self-assessment skills, particularly if they overestimate their own competences. References [1] Andrade HL. Students as the definitive source of formative assessment: Academic self-assessment and the self-regulation of learning. Handb. Form. Assess. 2010:1–18. [2] McMillan H, Hearn J. Student Self-Assessment: The Key to Stronger Student Motivation and Higher Achievement. Educ. Horizons 2008;87:40–49. [3] Wagner ML, Suh DC, Cruz S. Peer- and Self-Grading Compared to Faculty Grading. Am. J. Pharm. Educ. 2011; 2011;75:7.