SCOPE-K: development and initial validation of a novel self-referential expertise-mapping instrument for interprofessional education.

Abstract

Interprofessional education (IPE) evaluation often relies on attitudes and satisfaction rather than case-anchored judgments about expertise distribution. We developed the Scope of Practice Evaluation, Knowledge Domain (SCOPE-K) to measure learners' self-referential expertise-mapping judgments; whether a clinical question falls within their own profession's knowledge domain. Undergraduate medical, nursing, and pharmacy students (N = 126) completed SCOPE-K before and after an interprofessional simulation. For each of eight, profession-linked clinical questions, participants rated relevance to their own profession on a four-point scale and completed a profession-attribution ranking task. Analyses examined internal consistency, internal structure, expert-referenced concordance against an 11-member panel, and own-versus-other profession comparisons. Among students with complete pre-post data (N = 99), McDonald's ω was .87 pre-simulation and .91 post-simulation (bootstrap CI for the difference including zero). Exploratory factor analysis indicated a two-factor pattern with a strong inter-factor correlation (|Φ| = .69), broadly consistent with an underlying unidimensional construct. Benchmark coherence was substantial (Kendall's W = .72). In the subset with complete relevance and ranking data (N = 62), student - expert concordance increased from r- s = .38 to .60 (p = .024) and profession-attribution ranking concordance from τ̄ = .35 to .59 (p = .017). Students rated own-profession items higher than other-profession items at both time points, with the difference narrowing post-simulation. SCOPE-K shows promising initial psychometric properties as a novel, scenario-based measure of learners' self-referential expertise-mapping judgments within simulation-based IPE. The pattern of improved expert-referenced concordance, improved ranking concordance, and stronger association with profession-attribution performance provides encouraging initial validity evidence. SCOPE-K offers a distinct complement to attitudinal and behavioral assessment approaches by targeting a cognitive component of interprofessional learning that existing instruments do not directly elicit. Further validation with expanded item sampling, response-process evidence, and multi-center cohorts is warranted before SCOPE-K is used as a program-level IPE evaluation measure.