ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Healthcare Professions Education
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1639532
This article is part of the Research TopicWidening Participation and Access to Medicine as a CareerView all 5 articles
Leveling the Playing Field: Evaluating measurement equivalence in MMIs between genders
Provisionally accepted
- Bond University Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Gold Coast, Australia
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The selection process for medical schools plays a vital role in identifying candidates with the attributes and capabilities needed for success in medicine. Multiple Mini-Interviews (MMI) are widely used to assess non-cognitive attributes like communication, empathy, and ethical judgment. Ensuring their fairness and validity across diverse applicant groups is essential for equitable selection.Aims: This study aimed to investigate: (1) is there evidence to support the factorial validity of MMI structure;(2) whether non-cognitive attributes assessed by MMIs are consistently interpreted across gender groups; and(3) whether gender-related disparities exist in MMI performance.Methods: Data were drawn from applicants to an Australian Medical School across three selection cycles (2022)(2023)(2024). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to assess the dimensionality of MMI performance, with multiple competing models tested to identify the best-fitting structure. The selected model was then assessed for measurement invariance across gender using Multi-Group CFA. Once scalar invariance was established, latent mean comparisons were conducted to examine gender-related differences in MMI performance.Results: CFA indicated a well-fitting structure for MMIs, with a higher-order model emerging as the most appropriate representation across cohorts. Measurement invariance testing confirmed scalar invariance across gender groups, indicating that MMI non-cognitive attributes were demonstrated equivalently by males and females. Significant latent mean differences were identified, with female applicants consistently outperforming male applicants across all three years.The results provided empirical support for the factorial validity and measurement fairness of the MMI across gender groups. However, the consistent gender-based performance differences highlight the need for continued research into potential sources of group disparities and how they may impact selections equity.The results are relevant for medical educators and policymakers committed to evidence-based and equitable selection processes.
Keywords: admission processes, Selection processes, Diversity & Inclusion, gender, Equity, Medical Education, Medical school admission
Received: 02 Jun 2025; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Szkwara, Bannatyne, Asil, Craig, Stokes-Parish and Bishop. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jaclyn Michele Szkwara, Bond University Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Gold Coast, Australia
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.