Multiple mini interviews as a measure of non-cognitive skills for admissions into undergraduate medical education programme in Pakistan: A validity study

Student selection for Undergraduate Medical Education Programmes (UGME) is a highly selective process globally. Health care practice requires many attributes like communication skills, professionalism, critical thinking and problem solving in addition to cognitive abilities. This study reports the development and administration of Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI), the descriptive and psychometric properties of the MMI station scores and assesses the validity of MMI stations to ascertain if the stations measured the intended attributes. Nine attributes considered most essential for a successful health care professional were selected. A 5 point rating scale was used to rate each item on the station. The scores were then converted into percentage scores. The mean scores on each MMI station ranged from 27.4% to 80.0%. The reliability of stations using Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.64 to 0.98. MMI can be used to make reliable and valid decisions to select students with desired non cognitive attributes.