Lizemari Hugo-van Dyk¹
Danelle Haumann¹, Annali Fichardt¹ and Champion N. Nyoni¹ 1
University of the Free State 

Qualifications authorities and other health professions regulatory bodies often recommend integrative assessment as a preferred assessment approach. Integrative assessment aims to combine students’ learning from multiple modules into a single assessment. However, the concept of integrative assessment is unclear, leading to challenges in the interpretation and implementation in higher education institutions. Understanding the concept can give clarity on how effectively define and implement integrative assessment. 

A concept analysis of integrative assessment in the context of health professions education was done using Walker and Avant (2014). A literature search using 15 databases, resulted in 921 abstracts of which 19 articles were relevant. 

Defining attributes of integrative assessment were extracted and analysed, resulting in ten themes, namely assessment tasks, competence, learning, context, curriculum, instruments, tools, measures and scoring, multiple competencies, interdisciplinary involvement, feedback, and systems. Each theme had subthemes, adding depth and detail to the concept. The antecedents and consequences of integrative assessment were analysed, resulting in eight and six themes respectively. 

A conceptual definition for integrative assessment was produced: "Integrative assessment is a holistic approach, informed by an integrated curriculum, that includes diverse integrated assessment tasks to evaluate student learning and performance by assessing competencies across disciplines in an authentic context, using various scoring instruments to provide feedback on students’ competence within a robust assessment system". Additionally, the study found no empirical referents of integrative assessment, which influence the quality of implementation thereof. 

A conceptual definition of integrative assessment was generated, which can guide higher education institutions in implementing integrative assessment in alignment with policy and guidelines. Effective implementation of integrative assessment can lead to higher competence levels of practicing health professionals. Research is needed on the implementation of integrative assessment within health professions education. There is a dare need to develop an instrument to measure the implementation of integrative assessment. 

References (maximum three) 

Walker, L.O. & Avant, K.C. 2014. Strategies for theory construction in nursing, 5th ed. Boston: Prentice Hall.