Becoming a Massage Therapist

Information about the CMTNL Registration Examination is given below.

Purpose

Purpose of professional registration: public protection and competency

The purpose of the College of Massage Therapists of Newfoundland and Labrador(CMTNL) is to set and enforce standards respecting massage therapy in the public interest. The CMTNL establishes standards for massage therapy practice and administers examinations in order to ensure that entry-level competency standards are met. In order to be registered with the CMTNL, massage therapists must pass registration examination.

About registration or certification examinations in general

The purpose of a registration examination is to identify candidates possessing an established level of minimal competency. In order to measure this, a link is established between competent day-to-day practice and the examination through a job analysis. A qualified, diverse group of Subject Matter Experts establishes an exhaustive list of tasks associated with minimally competent, entry-level practice. This list is sent as a survey to currently registered professionals who rate the tasks according to criticality and importance. Psychometric analysis then establishes a detailed, weighted outline of the knowledge, skills and abilities required of the competent practitioner.

This data is then used to outline the test "blueprint", or specifications, that describes the content areas to be tested on the examination. The test blueprint gives teaching institutions and candidates clear information on the examination content, and provides a legally defensible link between competent performance, candidate opportunity to learn what is required, and the examination and the professional certification. All test questions and tasks must fall within the test specifications.

Methodology

About scoring and psychometric principles: recognizing competency

Standards based testing offers all competent candidates the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities. Old style "bell curve" scoring models, set passing rates arbitrarily - a percentage of candidates would pass or fail the exam, regardless of how they performed on the test. Passing was a function of how candidates fell along the score distribution continuum - an unsupportable scoring model. Basing the minimum passing score on a measurable level of performance is accomplished for our purposes through the use of a Modified Angoff scoring model. A defensible score value is established for each test question based upon Subject Matter Experts response data to the following query: What percentage of a 100 minimally competent, entry-level practitioners would be able to answer this question correctly?

By collecting Angoff data for each question and task, a defensible cut score can be established for each assembled examination. When a test is developed using these psychometric principles, and a legally defensible scoring model is used, then all competent candidates will have the opportunity to pass and practice, and the examination will do its job of restricting professional access to those candidates failing to demonstrate competency.

About scaled scores: ensuring fair comparisons

Candidates' raw scores are converted to scaled scores in order to ensure comparability and fairness. For continuity, raw scores are converted to scaled scores so that candidates' performance on one examination can be compared to candidates' performance on another form of the same examination. In order to compare the raw scores of exam candidates who took more difficult or easier forms of the examination a common scale is established. The pass (cut) score for an examination is transformed to a scaled score of 70 and all raw scores are converted to the appropriate scaled score. This process is called scaling (pass mark = scaled score of 70).

Candidates cannot take their reported scaled score and determine the number or percent of items in which credit was obtained. That is, a scaled score of 68 is not equivalent to 68%.

History of the CMTNL examination

Development and validation of the CMTNL Examination

In 2002, the College of Massage Therapists of Newfoundland and Labrador(CMTNL) undertook a detailed review and comparison of the job analysis study conducted in Ontario by the consulting firm of psychometricians, Schroeder Measurement Technologies (SMT), and the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario (CMTO). The CMTNL determined that the job analysis accurately described the practice of massage therapy in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. As a result, the CMTNL adopted the Massage Therapy Core Competencies and the examination of the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario. The Massage Therapy Competency Standards document is based on the job analysis and the data collected from the job analysis ensures that the test content is relevant to competent practice of the profession.

The CMTNL examination is an adapted form of the CMTO examination. It is based on the Act Respecting the Practice of Massage Therapy and its Regulations, the CMTNL Code of Ethics and Standards of practice, the CMTO Massage Therapy Competency Standards document and the job analysis which is revised annually based on the data collected in Ontario and subsequently reviewed by the CMTNL.

The CMTNL registration examination consists of two components, a Multiple Choice Questionnaire (MCQ) and an Objectively Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Candidates must successfully pass both components in order to apply for registration in Newfoundland and Labrador.

About the examination

Questions and tasks for the registration examination are developed by a group of CMTO subject matter experts (SME) who are massage therapists. Questions and tasks undergo three levels of editing, and all items must be approved by the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario. The CMTNL contributes questions to the CMTO for inclusion in the examination item bank. The CMTNL reviews and approves all items for inclusion in CMTNL examinations.

The CMTNL participates in the formulation of examinations. Using the modified Angoff method, a selected group of massage therapists formulate a fair passing score. This determines the necessary number of correct answers a candidate must achieve in order to pass the examination. This process ensures that, if all candidates tested demonstrate competency, all will pass.

Item analysis is performed for both the multiple-choice examination and the OSCE examination to confirm that all items are performing statistically within the parameters set for the examinations.

In order to ensure accuracy of the reported test scores, rigorous quality assurance procedures are adhered to. Through psychometric review, content experts review, and quality assurance procedures, the defensibility and accuracy of the reported scores are ensured.

The Examination in 2005

New organisation

In 2004 revisions to the job analysis and the data collected through it in Ontario resulted in some minor changes to the content outline of the examination reflecting the new areas in the Massage Therapy Competency Standards document. The content weighting has shifted so that while the tasks (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) tested are almost identical between the old and new outlines, the organization of those tasks has changed. Please download a detailed outline under the section, Revised Content Outline.

Changes are also reflected in a new version of the OSCE, which is now comprised of 10 stations and a group station where candidates watch a five to ten-minute video.