Trial use of the Personal Qualities Assessment (PQA) in the entrance examination of a Japanese medical university: similarities to the results in western countries.

BACKGROUND

The Personal Qualities Assessment (PQA), developed by the University of Newcastle, Australia to assess the aptitude of future medical professionals, has been used in Western countries.

PURPOSES: The objective was to investigate whether the PQA is appropriate for Japanese medical school applicants.

METHODS

Two of the PQA tests, Libertarian-Dual-Communitarian moral orientations (Mojac) and Narcissism, Aloofness, Confidence, and Empathy (NACE), were translated into Japanese, and administered at the Tokyo Women's Medical University entrance examinations from 2007 to 2009.

RESULTS

The distributions of the applicants' Mojac and NACE scores were close to the normal distribution, and the mean scores did not exhibit a large difference from those in Western countries. The only significant difference was that the mean score of the NACE test was slightly lower than the Western norm.

CONCLUSIONS

The translated PQA tests may be appropriate for use with Japanese applicants, though further research considering cultural differences is required.