About Rater Training and Calibration
In the process of developing the ESI, it has become apparent that valid and reliable administration and interpretation requires that interested occupational therapists (a) participate in an ESI training course, and (b) become calibrated as valid and reliable raters.
The 3-day ESI training course provides the occupational therapist with critical information related to the theoretical basis of the ESI as well as experiential learning of administration, scoring, and documentation procedures for the ESI. During the ESI training course, participants also have valuable opportunities to receive ongoing feedback and critical information about how to incorporate occupation-based assessment and intervention into their ongoing occupational therapy services.
Rater calibration allows us to determine each rater’s severity and whether or not he or she is scoring the ESI in a valid and reliable manner. Rater calibration requires that potential raters view and score videotaped ESI observations during the course, complete 10 live observations after the course, and submit their calibration data to the Center for Innovative OT Solutions within 3 months of their ESI training course. Center for Innovative OT Solutions then analyzes the calibration data and determines each rater’s severity and whether or not he or she is scoring the ESI in a reliable manner. If the analysis reveals that the rater does not demonstrate valid and reliable scoring, he or she will be asked to test an additional ten people or, in the rare case of extreme (and invalid) rater severity, to take the course again.
Continuing Education Credits
Occupational therapists who complete all three days of the ESI training course will receive a certificate verifying 26 contact hours of participation that can be used for documentation of CE credits.
