TPC Journal V8, Issue 1 - FULL ISSUE

18 The Professional Counselor | Volume 8, Issue 1 In the cases of both program development and early identification, scores on the INCA have potential for evaluating outcomes in a manner that is culturally valid to a reasonable degree. Thus, the quantification of intervention outcomes by student affairs programmers and mental health professionals can provide an impetus for further understanding their students’ needs and the best strategies for meeting them. This is an important consideration in an era wherein Ghanaian mental health professionals are leveraging existing resources while extending their scope of influence within an emerging sociopolitical climate, which has expanded professional counseling activities through legislative action (Ghana Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act 857, 2013). It is reasonable to conjecture that through the use of the INCA and other emerging assessments, the utilization and extension of personnel resources can not only be data-driven, but data-justified as well. Finally, as the globalization of the counseling profession continues to be cultivated worldwide, it is important that counselors in international settings have valid psychometric tools that are population specific. Validation activities, such as the INCA project reported here, provide psychometrically robust assessments that Ghanaian mental health professionals can add to their growing corpus of resources. Although the use of assessment-based programming and outcome measurement do not define the whole of a counselor’s professional identity, it is a critical feature (American Counseling Association, 2014; Lorelle et al., 2012). Therefore, as the INCA and other assessments continue to be validated with Ghanaian student populations, the professionalization of Ghanaian mental health professionals grows lockstep. Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research Some important limitations and related recommendations for future research are indicated. First, although we sampled almost 700 Ghanaian students, the scope of our participant sample was limited to one campus. Therefore, we regard our findings as preliminary and most relevant to the student body from which they were affiliated. While it is reasonable that a substantial degree of validity generalization may be present, future studies completed at other Ghanaian universities are needed to estimate the transferability of INCA scores across regions. Second, internal consistency of INCA scores (α) were within the acceptable range (.70–.80), yet they did not reach a level that would warrant use for high stakes decision-making, such as program eligibility or dismissal. Further research evaluating content-oriented evidence (Lambie, Blount, & Mullen, 2017), cognitive processing, and response processes (Peterson, Peterson, & Powell, 2017) of INCA items and scores is needed to identify variables that may influence the reliability of items. It is possible that because INCA factors were developed from a Western theory of student adjustment, that consistency may be affected and indicative that some modification of item wording may be warranted (Lenz, Soler, Dell’Aquila, & Uribe, 2017). Thus, further evaluation related to cross-cultural adaptation and representation of constructs consisting within Ghanaian culture is warranted. Finally, this study only reported two sources of validity evidence. Although evidence across all sources of validity would not necessarily imply that INCA is inherently useful (Lenz & Wester, 2017), future research that elucidates INCA features associated with construct irrelevance and underrepresentation would further promote responsible testing and evaluation practice (Spurgeon, 2017). Conclusion In conclusion, this study evaluated the transferability of validity evidence for scores on the INCA to a sample of Ghanaian college students. The findings suggest the INCA is a valid psychometric assessment that has the potential to contribute to evidence-supported practices for optimal development and adjustment among students at Ghanaian universities. Specifically, the INCA can be used by Ghanaian university personnel to assess student adjustment, make any necessary changes to