Abstract
Performance on the Board of Pediatrics' In-Training Exam (7/81) and a 30-item addendum assessing behavioral knowledge was compared for four groups of programs, three of which were participating in a separate, formal evaluation of behavioral training. The groups were: 10 schools funded for mandatory behavioral training, 6 not funded but providing mandatory training, 4 comparison programs not requiring training but participating in the formal evaluation, and all other (221) schools whose residents took the exam. Three measures were calculated for each of 4,433 residents: % correct on “organic” items (exam items not related to behavior); % correct on the “behavioral” items in the addendum; and a ratio score (Behavior score/Organic score). For all three PL years, Organic and Behavioral scores were only moderately correlated (r :.16 - .52). No significant differences were found in Organic performance between the four groups. In contrast, Behavioral and Ratio scores yielded significant (and similar) effects: Ratio scores were higher for Funded residents in the PL-1 year than for any other PL-1 group. For PL-2s, Funded, Not Funded, and Comparison residents performed better than the All Other group. By the third year, Funded residents performed better than those in the All Other group (Not Funded and Comparison scores fell in between). These data suggest that: (1) behavioral knowledge is only moderately related to organic knowledge; (2) requiring behavioral training does not affect the level of organic knowledge; (3) Funded programs attract residents more knowledgeable about behavior who, during their training, maintain greater knowledge than residents not participating in a formal evaluation of behavioral training.
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Phillips, S., Friedman, S. & Zebal, B. RESIDENTS' KNOWLEDGE OF BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS. Pediatr Res 18 (Suppl 4), 231 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00829
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00829