Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Practice Analysis Task Force
- Introduction to a Practice Analysis
- Executive Summary & Results Highlights
- Survey Return Rate
- Results Related to Professional Background, Demographic Information and Work Setting
- Results Related to Domains, Tasks, Knowledge and Skill Statements
- Domains
- Tasks
- Knowledge and Skill Statements
- Orthotic Practice Areas and Orthoses
- Prosthetic Practice Areas and Devices
- Methodology
©2024 by the American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics & Pedorthics, Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this document may be produced in any form without written permission of the American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics & Pedorthics, Inc.
Practice Analysis of Certified Practitioners in the Disciplines of Orthotics and Prosthetics
September 2022
Introduction to a Practice Analysis
The American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics, & Pedorthics (ABC) is an organization with a mission to establish and advocate for the highest patient care and organizational standards in the provision of safe and effective orthotic, prosthetic and pedorthic services. ABC describes the O&P practitioner role as follows:
“An ABC Certified Orthotist and/or Prosthetist is a health care professional specifically educated and trained to manage comprehensive orthotic and/or prosthetic patient care. This includes patient assessment, formulation of a treatment plan, implementation of a treatment plan, follow-up and practice management. Documentation by the orthotist and/or prosthetist is part of the patient’s medical record and assists with establishing medical necessity for orthotic and/or prosthetic care.”
This report describes the practice analysis study, including the:
- rationale for conducting the practice analysis study
- types of data analyses conducted
- survey results and
- methods used to define job tasks, knowledge and skills
Practice Analysis Study and Adherence to Professional Standards
A practice analysis study refers to procedures designed to obtain descriptive information about the tasks performed on a job and the knowledge, skills, or abilities requisite to the performance of those tasks. The specific type of information collected
during a practice analysis study is determined by the purpose for which the information will be used.
For purposes of developing credentialing examinations, a practice analysis study should identify important tasks, knowledge, skills, and/or abilities deemed important by the profession.
The use of a practice analysis study (also known as job analysis, role and function study, or role delineation) to define the content domain(s) is a critical component in establishing the content validity of the certification. Content validity refers
to the extent to which the content covered by an examination is representative of the tasks, knowledge, skills, or abilities related to a job.
A well-designed practice analysis study should include the participation of a representative group of subject matter experts who reflect the diversity within the profession. Diversity refers to regional or job context factors and to factors such as experience,
gender, and race/ethnicity. Demonstration of content validity is accomplished through the judgments of subject matter experts. The process is enhanced by the inclusion of large numbers of experts who represent the diversity of the relevant areas of
expertise.
The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (2014) (the Standards) is a comprehensive technical guide that provides criteria for the evaluation of tests, testing practices, score interpretations, and the use of tests to make
decisions. It was developed jointly by the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME). The guidelines presented in the Standards,
by professional consensus, have come to define the necessary components of quality testing. As a consequence, a testing program that adheres to the Standards is more likely to be judged to be valid and defensible than one that does not.
As stated in Standard 11.13,
“The content domain to be covered by a credentialing test should be defined clearly and justified in terms of the importance of the content for credential-worthy performance in an occupation or profession. A rationale and evidence should be provided to support the claim that the knowledge or skills being assessed are required for credential-worthy performance in that occupation and are consistent with the purpose for which the credentialing program was instituted…. Typically, some form of job or practice analysis provides the primary basis for defining the content domain….” (pp 181-182) 1
This practice analysis study for the O&P practitioner was designed to follow the guidelines presented in the Standards and to adhere to accepted professional practice.
1American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, National Council on Measurement in Education (Eds.). (2014). Standards for educational and psychological testing. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
