Can Behavior-Based Interviews Reduce Bias in Fellowship Applicant Assessment?

Introducing Competency-Based Behavioral Interviewing in Physician Assistant/Associate Admissions Process

“…The CBBI format has been adapted to US medical residency program interview processes with mixed results for predictability. 4,5,15 Strand et al 15 developed behavior-based interviews to evaluate obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) residency applicants' skills to measure their competencies in “academic records, professionalism, leadership, trainability/suitability for the specialty, and fit for the program.” (p. 446) The authors uncovered that applicants' academic record scores predicted resident patient care scores and CBBI leadership scores predicted resident leadership scores, as scored by program directors after 2 years of the residency program. However, applicant CBBI professionalism scores were not predictable of resident professionalism scores when scored by the program director after completing 2 years of the residency program.…”

“…1 Furthermore, competency-based behavior interviewing (CBBI) has been introduced as an approach in designing questions to assess applicant noncognitive attributes, and it has been used in some health and medical education and professional training program admission processes. 4,5 This article discusses current methods used by PA programs in their admission processes and includes a literature review of integrated CBBI in health and medical science education and training programs. In addition, PA programs could use this article as a guide to improve PA educator practices by integrating CBBI into the admission interview process.…”

“…1 Furthermore, competency-based behavior interviewing (CBBI) has been introduced as an approach in designing questions to assess applicant noncognitive attributes, and it has been used in some health and medical education and professional training program admission processes. 4,5…”

Best Practices for Reducing Bias in the Interview Process

“…Once a scoring system is determined, interviewers can be trained to review the questions, score applicant responses, and ensure they do not revise the questions during the interview [ 11 ]. Questions and the grading rubric should be further scrutinized through mock interviews with current residents, including discussing responses of the mock interviewee and modifying the questions and rubric prior to formal implementation [ 12 ]. Interviewer training itself is critical, as adequate training leads to improved interrater agreements [ 13 ].…”

“…Structured interviews, conversely, have been shown to decrease bias in the application process. Faculty trained in behavior-based interviews for fellowship applications demonstrated that there were reduced racial biases in candidate evaluations due to scoring rubrics [ 12 ]. Furthermore, as structured questions are determined prior to the interview and involve training of interviewers, structured interviews are less prone to illegal and inappropriate questions [ 32 ].…”