CORE-HPE Reporting Guidelines: Standardizing Reporting for Competency-Based Health Professions Education Outcomes Research

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Abstract
Background: Competency-Based Health Professions Education (CBHPE) is increasingly implemented; however, CBHPE outcomes research remains difficult to interpret and synthesize when studies incompletely report the CBHPE model and other elements. Objective: To develop structured reporting guidelines for CBHPE outcomes studies to improve transparency, interpretability, and transferability across educational contexts and professions. Methods: A multi-phase, iterative consensus-development process was used to create a CBHPE outcomes reporting checklist aligned with a CBHPE Outcomes Theory of Change. Draft reporting elements were generated and refined through structured writing-group deliberations, broad stakeholder feedback gathered through interactive town hall sessions within the ICBHPE Collaborative, and iterative revision cycles. The checklist was then pilot-tested with non-expert users to assess clarity, feasibility, and usability, and revisions were made to reduce redundancy, harmonize terminology, and strengthen guidance for high-impact reporting domains. Results: The final product is a structured reporting checklist, organized by manuscript section, accompanied by brief item descriptions and rationales, and registered with EQUATOR. The guidelines prioritize reporting elements that support causal interpretability in CBHPE outcomes research, including specification of the CBHPE intervention architecture and core components, program theory and intended mechanisms, implementation fidelity and adaptations, assessment system design and governance for progression decisions, multi-level outcomes and indicators across developmental timeframes, contextual enablers and constraints, and equity considerations. Conclusions: These CBHPE outcomes reporting recommendations provide a practical tool and guideline for authors, reviewers, and editors to strengthen the completeness and consistency of CBHPE outcomes reporting and should be considered before beginning a study. Adoption of this checklist may improve interpretability and evidence synthesis across programs and accelerate actionable learning about what works in CBHPE, for whom, in what contexts, and why.

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