Signature Strength Domains, Emotional Intelligence and Grit Among 2nd Year Dpt Students
Purpose: There has been a recent shift in healthcare education placing greater emphasis on leadership and professional development, including the identification and development of non-cognitive traits. There has been a call to action to include a curricular thread with focus on leadership development in the profession of physical therapy to enhance the ability of future physical therapists to effectively serve as leaders in the healthcare industry and address the evolving challenges of healthcare reform. Also in recent years, there has been an increased interest in exploring the relationship of non-cognitive traits, including emotional intelligence and grit, as they relate to academic and professional success. Constructs specifically associated with emotional or social intelligence have been shown to positively influence academic success and result in positive professional performance. Current leaders in the profession of physical therapy demonstrate high levels of grit, 3.9 ( .47) and it has been suggested that this non-cognitive trait may be used as part of a holistic admission process to identify characteristics of future leaders, adding to the diversity of talent in physical therapy programs. With growing evidence related to the importance of non-cognitive traits, programs may be tasked with increasing their understanding in regards to leadership talents and associated non-cognitive strengths with hopes of graduating a more well-rounded individual equipped for longevity in the profession. The purpose of this study is twofold;1) to determine if a pattern of strengths exists among physical therapy students and 2) to investigate the relationship between strengths, emotional intelligence and grit.
Methods/Description: As part of a professional development activity 44 second year DPT students completed the online CliftonStrengths® assessment, the 12-Item Grit Scale, and Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF). All three outcome measures have established validity in adults similarly aged to DPT students. Students were asked to voluntarily provide the top 5 strength themes as well as their top strength domain along with their Grit and TEIQue-SF scores. Bivariate correlations were calculated between total and subscale scores for grit and emotional intelligence based on Shapiro-Wilk test of normalcy. A one-way ANOVA was utilized to determine differences between groups based on strength domain with post-hoc testing to identify where the difference occurred.
Results/Outcomes: The predominate domains of the CliftonStrengths® assessment were Relationship Building (47.7%) followed by Executing (36.4%). Descriptive statistics revealed mean Grit score to be 3.8 (.50) and the TEIQue Global Trait mean 5.26 (.48) of the entire sample. Bivariate correlations revealed low to moderate positive relationships in the following constructs; Global Trait of TEIQue-SF and total Grit score r =.31, p =.041 and Perseverance of Effort subscale of Grit and Emotional Wellbeing of TEIQue-SF r =.56, p <.001. One-way independent groups ANOVA F(3,40) = 3.41, p =.026 revealed significant difference in TEIQue-SF self-control construct among the 4 strength domains. Bonferroni post-hoc analysis revealed significant differences between Relationship Building and Executing domains with a mean difference of .59, 95% CI of difference of .01 to 1.17.
Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme: To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate strength themes and domains in physical therapy students. Utilization of personal development tools like those employed in this study allows for early identification of student’s inherent talents and non-cognitive traits that can assist in the development and building of early career leadership skills within the profession. Future implications include potential curricular changes that would allow for the integration of personal development tools and implementation of a Strengths-Based Education approach to foster evolution of leadership skills. This learner-centered approach is parallel to the learning praxis identified in the recent study of excellence in physical therapy education. A leadership-focused curriculum has potential to cultivate the skills specific to the affective domain and places emphasis on the importance of professional formation.