Initial development of the Healthcare Managerial Appraisal

Abstract

The initial development and content validation of the Health Managerial Appraisal (HMA) is outlined in this study. The content of the HMA was developed based on a Health, Human, and Community Service (HHCS) Managerial Competency Model that was created by subject matter experts. In today’s HHCS organizations, managerial roles now include empowering direct support professionals. Empowerment requires that managers accurately evaluate staff’s interpersonal effectiveness and decision-making capability. The HMA measures a test-taker’s ability to evaluate these two skill sets. The HMA was first administered to initial job applicants across all job levels (N = 2,072). Based on these test-taker responses, the HMA was revised from six scenarios to four. The revised form was then administered to final candidates for managerial and executive level jobs (N = 77). These executive and managerial candidates performed better on the HMA than initial stage job applicants, suggesting that more qualified managerial candidates were more likely to perform well on the HMA. Additionally, internal consistency reliability of the HMA test scores was .735, suggesting that the HMA produced reliable test scores. The HMA has the potential to inform selection of HHCS managerial candidates as well as help current HHCS managers identify areas for professional development.