Test blueprints for psychiatry residency in-training written examinations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Figures & data

Table 1 Bloom’s taxonomy - old and revised hierarchy link

Old Bloom	Neo-Bloom (A&K)
Evaluation**	Creating**
Synthesis	Evaluating
Analysis	Analyzing
Application	Applying
Comprehension	Understanding
Knowledge*	Remembering*

Notes: From lower order* to higher order thinking skills**. When comparing the traditional version with the new version, the top two levels are exchanged.²³

Table 2 Profile of the panel experts

	Sex
4	Male
2	Female
	Specialty qualifications
4	National
2	International
	Years of teaching experience
3	5–10
2	11–15
1	≥16
	Professional/academic status
3	Consultant
1	Senior consultant
1	Assistant professor
1	Associate professor
	Years of clinical experience
–	5–10
4	11–15
2	≥16
	Involvement in Saudi board of psychiatry
6	Member
3	Examiner

Table 3 Global test blueprint for the first year

Problem solving	Interpretation (%)	Recall (%)	Total weightage (%)	Content area
0	0	2	2	Introduction to psychiatry
1	2	5	8	Basic neurosciences
0	2	3	5	Classification of psychiatric disorders
1	2	3	6	Etiology of psychiatric disorders
3	3	2	8	Diagnostic procedures
1	2	4	7	Basic psychopharmacology
2	2	4	8	Somatic treatment methods
2	3	5	10	Adult psychiatric disorders
0	1	1	2	Personality disorders
1	1	2	4	Cognitive disorders
4	3	1	8	Psychiatric emergencies
0	7	8	15	Psychopathology
0	2	8	10	Basic psychology
(0)	(2)	(5)	(7)	Miscellaneous
0	1	2	3	Other basic sciences related to psychiatry.
0	0	2	2	– Ethics
0	1	1	2	– Basic statistics
15	32	53	100	Total

Table 4 Global test blueprint for the second year

Problem solving (%)	Interpretation (%)	Recall (%)	Total weightage (%)	Content area
1	4	5	10	Substance use disorders
4	4	2	10	Consultation-liaison and psychosomatic medicine
1	1	2	4	Geriatric psychiatry
0	2	3	5	Research methods, and evidence based psychiatry
0	2	3	5	Clinical psychology
(from the previous year) (1)
4	2	1	7	Psychopathology
3	2	0	5	Etiology of the psychiatric disorders
3	2	0	5	Diagnostic procedures
5	3	2	10	Somatic treatment methods and other treatment methods
8	5	2	15	Adult psychiatry
1	2	2	5	Personality disorders
2	2	1	5	Cognitive disorders
5	3	0	8	Psychiatric emergencies
(0)	(3)	(3)	(6)	Miscellaneous
0	2	1	3	Ethics
0	1	2	3	Other conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention
37	37	26	100	Total

Table 5 Global test blueprint for the third year

Problem solving (%)	Interpretation (%)	Recall (%)	Total weightage (%)	Content area
5	5	5	15	Child psychiatry
1	1	2	4	Sleep disorders
4	2	2	8	Forensic psychiatry
1	1	1	3	Eating disorders
2	2	1	5	Sexual and gender identity disorders
6	4	2	12	Psychotherapy and rehabilitation
From the previous years (1 and 2)
3	2	0	5	Substance use disorders
3	2	1	6	Research methods, and evidence based practices
6	3	2	11	Consultation-liaison and psychosomatic medicine
3	2	1	6	Somatic treatment methods and other treatment methods
6	3	1	10	Adult psychiatric disorders
2	0	0	2	Geriatric psychiatry
2	0	0	2	Cognitive disorders
3	0	0	3	Psychiatric emergencies
(5)	(2)	(1)	(8)	Miscellaneous
1	0	0	1	Diagnostic procedures
3	0	0	3	Ethics
1	0	0	1	Etiology of the psychiatric disorders
0	2	1	3	Culture-bound syndromes
52	29	19	100	Total

Table 6 Global test blueprint for the fourth year

Problem solving (%)	Interpretation (%)	Recall (%)	Total weightage (%)	Content area
5	3	2	10	Psychosocial interventions
3	5	2	10	Research methods, evidence based practices, critical appraisal, and clinical information management
5	3	2	10	Public psychiatry
from the previous years (1, 2 and 3)
2	1	0	3	Diagnostic procedures
4	1	1	6	Child psychiatry
5	4	0	10	Adult psychiatric disorders
3	2	0	5	Substance use disorders
4	2	0	6	Consultation-liaison and psychosomatic medicine
3	1	0	4	Geriatric psychiatry
3	1	0	5	Forensic psychiatry
3	2	0	5	Personality disorders
3	0	0	5	Cognitive disorders
4	3	0	7	Somatic treatment methods and other treatment methods
4	1	0	5	Psychiatric emergencies
(5)	(3)	(1)	(9)	Miscellaneous
2	1	0	3	Psychotherapy
2	1	0	3	Ethics
1	1	1	3	Psychopharmacology
57	35	8	100	Total

Appendix I Detailed test blueprint for the first year

Content area	Total weightage (%)	Recall (%)	Interpretation (%)	Problem solving (%)
Introduction to psychiatry	2	2	0	0
History and development of psychiatry as medical science
Basic neurosciences	8	5	2	1
Neuroanatomy
Neurophysiology
Neuroendocrinology
Neuropathology
Genetics
Others
Psychiatric disorders classification	5	3	2	0
Historical background
Normality in mental health
Role of culture and religion in psychiatry
Dimensional vs categorical approaches
Etiology of the psychiatric disorders	6	3	2	1
Diagnostic procedures	8	2	3	3
Psychiatric interview and mental status examination
Biomedical laboratory testing
Psychological and neuropsychological testing
Diagnostic assessment and rating scales
Neurophysiological testing
Neuroimaging
Others
Basic psychopharmacology	7	4	2	1
Pharmacodynamics
Pharmacokinetics
Others
Somatic treatment methods	8	4	2	2
Pharmacotherapy of mental disorders (treatment guidelines, side effects, complications, etc)
Psychotropic drugs
ECT and other somatic treatments
Adult psychiatric disorders	10	5	3	2
Schizophrenia
Other psychoses
Mood disorders
– Bipolar affective disorders
– Major depressive disorders
– Others (postpartum, dysthymic, etc)
Anxiety disorders
– Obsessive compulsive disorders
– Generalized anxiety disorders
– Panic disorders
Adjustment disorders
Somatoform and factitious disorders
Dissociative disorders
Impulse-control disorders
Others
Personality disorders	2	1	1	0
Cognitive disorders	4	2	1	1
Delirium
Dementias
Amnestic syndrome
Mental disorders due to a general medical condition (including HIV)
Psychiatric emergencies	8	1	3	4
Suicide
Violent behavior
Treatment methods in emergency situations
Differential diagnosis in emergency situations
Others
Psychopathology	15	8	7	0
Basic psychology	10	8	2	0
Miscellaneous:	7
Behavioral and other basic sciences related to psychiatry	3	2	1	0
Bio statistics and research	2	1	1
Ethics	2	2	0	0
Total	100%	53	32	15

Appendix II Detailed test blueprint for the second year

Content area	Total weightage (%)	Recall (%)	Interpretation (%)	Problem solving (%)
Substance use disorders	10	5	4	1
Alcohol
Benzodiazepine and other sedative hypnotics
inhalants
Marijuana
Opiates
Stimulants
Others
Consultation-liaison and psychosomatic medicine	10	2	4	4
Geriatric psychiatry	4	2	1	1
Research methods, evidence based psychiatry	5	3	2	0
Clinical psychology	5	3	2	0
From the 1st year
Psychopathology	7	1	2	4
Etiology of the psychiatric disorders	5	0	2	3
Diagnostic procedures	5	0	2	3
Psychiatric interview and mental status examination
Biomedical laboratory testing
Psychological and neuropsychological testing
Diagnostic assessment and rating scales
Neurophysiological testing
Neuroimaging
Others
Somatic treatment methods and other treatment methods	10	2	3	5
Pharmacotherapy of mental disorders
Psychotropic drugs
ECT and other somatic therapies
Psycho-social interventions
Others
Adult psychiatric disorders	15	2	5	8
Schizophrenia
Other psychoses
Mood disorder
– Bipolar affective disorders
– Major depressive disorders
– Others (postpartum, dysthymic, etc)
Anxiety disorders
– Obsessive compulsive disorders
– Generalized anxiety disorders
– Panic disorders
Adjustment disorders
Somatoform and factitious disorders
Dissociative disorders
Impulse-control disorders
Others
Personality disorders	5	2	2	1
Cognitive disorders	5	1	2	2
Delirium
Dementias
Amnestic syndrome
	Mental disorders due to general medical conditions (including HIV)
Psychiatric emergencies	8	0	3	5
Suicide
Treatment methods in emergency situations
Differential diagnosis in emergency situations
Others
Miscellaneous	(6)
Ethics (professional behavior-malpractice)	3	2	1	0
Other conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention	3	1	2	0
Total	100%	26	37	37

Appendix III Detailed test blueprint for the third year

Content area	Total weightage (%)	Recall (%)	Interpretation (%)	Problem solving (%)
Child psychiatry	15	5	5	5
Assessment of child and adolescent
Disorder first diagnosed in infancy, childhood, or adolescence
Mental retardation
Learning disorders
Communication disorders
Behavior disorders
Pervasive developmental disorders
Elimination disorders
Feeding and eating disorders
Tic disorders
Autism and psychotic disorders
Mood and anxiety disorders
Child abuse
Attention-deficient and disruptive disorders
Principles of treatment (psychopharmacology andpsychotherapy)
Childhood disorders that persist into adolescence and adulthood
Others
Sleep disorders	4	2	1	1
Insomnia and parasomnia
Sleep apnea
Others
Forensic psychiatry	8	2	2	4
Confidentiality
Competence
Criminality issues
Others
Eating disorders	3	1	1	1
Anorexia nervosa
Bulimia nervosa
Obesity
Sexual and gender identity disorders	5	1	2	2
Paraphilias
Sexual dysfunction
Gender identity disorder
Psychotherapy and rehabilitation	12	2	4	6
Supportive
Cognitive and behavior
Crisis intervention
Couples and family
Others
From the previous years’ content
Substance use disorders	5	0	2	3
Research methods, evidence based psychiatry	6	1	2	3
Consultation-liaison and psychosomatic medicine	11	2	3	6
Somatic treatment methods and other treatment methods	6	1	2	3
Pharmacotherapy of mental disorders
Psychotropic drugs
ECT and other somatic therapies
Psycho-social interventions
Others
Adult psychiatric disorders	10	1	3	6
Schizophrenia
Other psychoses
Mood disorder
Anxiety disorders
Adjustment disorders
Somatoform and factitious disorders
Dissociative disorders
Impulse-control disorders
Others
Geriatric psychiatry	2	0	0	2
Cognitive disorders	2	0	0	2
Delirium
Dementias
Amnestic syndrome
Others (mental disorder due to a generalmedical condition)
Psychiatric emergencies	3	0	0	3
Suicide
Violent behavior
Treatment methods in emergency situations
Differential diagnosis in emergency situations
Miscellaneous	(8)	(1)	(2)	(5)
Diagnostic procedures	1	0	0	1
Ethics	3	0	0	3
Etiology of psychiatric disorders	1	0	0	1
Culture bound syndromes	3	1	2	0
Total	100%	19	29	52

Appendix IV Detailed test blueprint for the fourth year

Content area	Total weightage (%)	Recall (%)	Interpretation (%)	Problem Solving (%)
Psychosocial interventions	10	2	3	5
Psychoeducation
Rehabilitation
Relapse prevention
Community-based treatment programs
Others
Research methods, evidence-based practices, Critical appraisal, and clinical information management	10	2	5	3
Public psychiatry	10	2	3	5
Community mental health center factors
Prevention (primary, secondary, and tertiary)
Deinstitutionalization
Outpatient commitment program
Other (homeless mentally ill people, psychogeriatriclong-term care)
From the previous years’ content
Diagnostic procedures	3	0	1	2
Child psychiatry	6	1	1	4
Assessment of child and adolescent
Disorders first diagnosed in infancy, child hood, or adolescence
Mental retardation
Learning disorders
Communication disorders
Behavior disorders
Pervasive developmental disorders
Elimination disorders
Feeding and eating disorders
Tic disorders
Autism and psychotic disorders
Mood and anxiety disorders
Child abuse
Attention-deficient and disruptive disorders
Treatment principles (psychopharmacology and psychotherapy)
Childhood disorders that persist into adolescence andadulthood
Others
Adult psychiatric disorders	10	0	4	6
Schizophrenia
Other psychoses
Mood disorders
Anxiety disorders
Adjustment disorders
Somatoform and factitious disorders
Dissociative disorders
Impulse-control disorders
Others
Substance use disorders	5	0	2	3
Consultation-liaison and psychosomatic medicine	6	0	2	4
Geriatric psychiatry	4	0	1	3
Forensic psychiatry	5	0	2	3
Personality disorders	5	0	2	3
Cognitive disorders	5	0	2	3
Somatic treatment methods and other treatment methods	7	0	3	4
Psychiatric emergencies	5	0	1	4
Suicide
Violent behavior
Treatment methods in emergency situations
Differential diagnosis in emergency situations
Others
Miscellaneous	(9)	(1)	(3)	(5)
Psychotherapy	3	0	1	2
Ethics	3	0	1	2
Etiology of the psychiatric disorders	3	1	1	1
Total	100%	8	35	57

DraperSTaxonomies of learning aims and objectives: Bloom, neoBloom, and criticisms Available from: http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/best/bloom.htmlAccessed April 2, 2012

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