The Benefits of Utilizing Student Created Videos to Promote Ethical Practice in Physical Therapy
Purpose:
The purpose of this project was for second year Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students to develop a series of videos that portray situations that would challenge therapists ethically, and promote ethical reasoning. To validate the effectiveness of the videos produced, first year DPT students viewed the videos and completed surveys on content, production and medium.
Description:
The physical therapy code of ethics and the seven core values for the physical therapist serve as a compass to direct moral decision-making. Traditionally, ethical decision making has been taught in a lecture based format, utilizing paper case scenarios and class discussion. It is hypothesized that using a video medium would present the cases more realistically, and improve the students’ confidence in making ethical decisions using the RIPS model.
Second year DPT students and their adviser contracted with a national publishing company to create case scenarios and scripts, based on their experiences, that depicted an ethically challenging situation that a physical therapist or physical therapy student may encounter. Face validity of the video content was conducted by sending the scripts to two physical therapists who publish and present on the subject of ethics nationally. Once validated, the students collaborated with a production team to film the videos on campus. The videos will be housed on the publisher's website as a supplemental educational resources for subscribers.
The second year DPT students collaborated with a faculty member whose content expertise is in survey design. They created a survey about the videos’ production, medium and content. First year DPT students, who had previously been instructed through lecture and paper cases viewed the videos and completed the survey.
Summary of Use:
Of the forty-one participants who completed the survey, 27 felt that ethics is important to study in a PT program, 33 felt the video appeared more natural than scripted, 41 felt the videos were more helpful than paper cases to understand ethical dilemmas, and 37 felt more confident making an ethical decision in a PT setting after viewing the videos.
Importance to Members:
Some research suggests that students in e-learning who were provided interactive videos achieved higher level of learner satisfaction than those in other settings. The results of our survey suggest that second year DPT students developed videos that portrayed realistic scenarios that might challenge a therapist ethically, in the clinic. The use of the videos as an educational tool for first year students promoted an understanding of ethical decision making. The current climate of high productivity standards, decreased reimbursement for therapy services and physical therapist burnout may tempt therapists to act against the Code of Ethics and their morals. Educating students early, using visual resources that appear authentic, helps them to experience how it feels to be put in a position where they may be challenged, ethically.