A Triadic Approach to the Construct Validity of the Assessment Center: The Effect of Categorizing Dimensions into a Feeling, Thinking, and Power Taxonomy

This study examined the influence on construct validity of implementing the triad Feeling, Thinking, and Power as a taxonomy for behavioral dimensions in assessment center (AC) exercises. A sample of 1567 job applicants participated in an AC specifically developed according to this taxonomy. Each exercise tapped three dimensions, one dimension from each cluster of the taxonomy. Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the multitrait-multimethod matrix showed evidence for construct validity. Thus, the ratings matched the a priori triadic grouping to a good extent. Practical implications are discussed

Impact of common rater variance on construct validity of assessment center dimension judgements

In an assessment center (AC), assessors generally rate an applicant's performance on multiple dimensions in just 1 exercise. This rating procedure introduces common rater variance within exercises but not between exercises. This article hypothesizes that this phenomenon is partly responsible for the consistently reported result that the AC lacks construct validity. Therefore, in this article, the rater effect is standardized on discriminant and convergent validity via a multitrait-multimethod design in which each matrix cell is based on ratings of different assessors. Two independent studies (N = 200, N = 52) showed that, within exercises, correlations decrease when common rater variance is excluded both across exercises (by having assessors rate only 1 exercise) and within exercises (by having assessors rate only 1 dimension per exercise). Implications are discussed in the context of the recent discussion around the appropriateness of the within-exercise versus the within-dimension evaluation method

A triadic approach to assessment centre’s construct validity; The effect of categorising dimensions into a feeling, thinking, power taxonomy

This study examined the influence on construct validity of implementing the triad Feeling, Thinking and Power as a taxonomy for behavioural dimensions in assessment centre (AC) exercises. A sample of 1.567 job applicants participated in an AC specifically developed according to this taxonomy. Each exercise tapped three dimensions, one dimension from each cluster of the taxonomy. Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the multitrait-multimethod matrix showed evidence for construct validity. Thus the ratings matched the a priori triadic grouping to a good extent. Practical implications are discussed

The Transparent Assessment Centre: The Effects of Revealing Dimensions to Candidates

What are the effects of revealing dimensions to candidates in an assessment centre? This question is addressed in two independent studies, using individual exercises. Results in Study 1 showed no difference in construct-related validity between a transparent (N =99) and a non-transparent group of university students (N =50),contrary to previous findings by Kleinmann, Kuptsch, and Köller (1996) and Kleinmann (1997), who used group exercises. Also, mean ratings did not alter, the exception being the dimension 'Sensitivity', which increased slightly after the transparency treatment. Conversely, results in Study 2, which contained a sample of actual job applicants, showed a significant improvement in construct-related validity for the transparent group (N =297) compared with the non-transparent group (N =393). Again, mean ratings did not differ between these two groups. Implications of these findings for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed in this paper

New horizons in geriatric medicine education and training: the need for pan-European education and training standards

The ageing population ought to be celebrated as evidence for the efficacy of modern medicine, but the challenge that this demographic shift presents for 21st century healthcare systems, with increasing numbers of people living with multi-morbidity and frailty, cannot be ignored. There is therefore a need to ensure that all healthcare professionals grasp the basic principles of care of older people. In this paper, we make a case for the development of pan-European education and training standards for the field of geriatric medicine. Firstly, the challenges which face the implementation and delivery of geriatric medicine in a systematic way across Europe are described – these include, but are not limited to; variance in geriatric medicine practice across Europe, insecurity of the specialty in some countries and significant heterogeneity in geriatric medicine training programs across Europe. The opportunities for geriatric medicine are then presented and we consider how engendering core geriatric medicine competencies amongst nongeriatricians has potential to bridge existing gaps in service provision across Europe. Finally, we consider how work can proceed to teach sufficient numbers of doctors and health professionals in the core knowledge, skills and attitudes required to do this. To safeguard the future of the specialty across Europe, we contend that there is a need to strive towards harmonisation of post-graduate geriatric medicine training across Europe, through the establishment of pan-European education and training standards in the specialty

Breast cancer risk genes: association analysis in more than 113,000 women

BACKGROUNDGenetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility is widely used, but for many genes, evidence of an association with breast cancer is weak, underlying risk estimates are imprecise, and reliable subtype-specific risk estimates are lacking.METHODSWe used a panel of 34 putative susceptibility genes to perform sequencing on samples from 60,466 women with breast cancer and 53,461 controls. In separate analyses for protein-truncating variants and rare missense variants in these genes, we estimated odds ratios for breast cancer overall and tumor subtypes. We evaluated missense-variant associations according to domain and classification of pathogenicity.RESULTSProtein-truncating variants in 5 genes (ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, CHEK2, and PALB2) were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall with a P value of less than 0.0001. Protein-truncating variants in 4 other genes (BARD1, RAD51C, RAD51D, and TP53) were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall with a P value of less than 0.05 and a Bayesian false-discovery probability of less than 0.05. For protein-truncating variants in 19 of the remaining 25 genes, the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval of the odds ratio for breast cancer overall was less than 2.0. For protein-truncating variants in ATM and CHEK2, odds ratios were higher for estrogen receptor (ER)-positive disease than for ER-negative disease; for protein-truncating variants in BARD1, BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, RAD51C, and RAD51D, odds ratios were higher for ER-negative disease than for ER-positive disease. Rare missense variants (in aggregate) in ATM, CHEK2, and TP53 were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall with a P value of less than 0.001. For BRCA1, BRCA2, and TP53, missense variants (in aggregate) that would be classified as pathogenic according to standard criteria were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall, with the risk being similar to that of protein-truncating variants.CONCLUSIONSThe results of this study define the genes that are most clinically useful for inclusion on panels for the prediction of breast cancer risk, as well as provide estimates of the risks associated with protein-truncating variants, to guide genetic counseling. (Funded by European Union Horizon 2020 programs and others.)Molecular tumour pathology - and tumour geneticsMTG1 - Moleculaire genetica en pathologie van borstkanke