Doctoral students' intention to use assessments in their career: The incremental role of self-reported competence.

Abstract

Attaining competence in assessment is a necessary step in graduate training and has been defined to include multiple domains of training relevant to this attainment. While important to ensure trainees meet these standards of training, it is critical to understand how and if competence shapes a trainees' professional identity, therein promoting lifelong competency. The current study assessed currently enrolled graduate trainees' knowledge and perception of their capabilities related to assessment to determine if self-reported and performance-based competence would incrementally predict their intention to use assessment in their future above basic training characteristics and intended career interests. Self-reported competence, but not performance-based competence, played an incremental role in trainees' intention to use assessments in their careers. Multiple graduate training characteristics and practice experiences were insignificant predictors after accounting for other relative predictors (i.e., intended career settings, integrated reports). Findings are discussed about the critical importance of incorporating a hybrid competency-capability assessment training framework to further emphasize the role of trainee self-efficacy in hopes of promoting lifelong competence in their continued use of assessments.