Program Directors’ Perceptions of the CBMT Exam

Abstract

Forty-one academic program directors completed a survey eliciting their perceptions of the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT) board certification exam. Survey questions concerned the meaningfulness and utility of the exam in evaluating safe and competent practice; reasons students might fail the exam; exam preparation methods; and open-ended questions that allowed participants to express specific concerns about the exam, if they had any. On average, program directors perceived the exam to be “neither effective nor ineffective” in evaluating clinical competence, with open-ended responses suggesting the majority of these faculty had a range of concerns about the exam. After categorizing and defining these concerns, reflective comments serve to stimulate discussion about the meaningfulness and utility of the exam, as it is currently constructed.