Doctor of Physical Therapy Students’ Assessment of Clinical Instructors’ Core Values
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to investigate DPT students’ perceptions of their clinical instructors’ demonstration of the core values adopted by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Board of Directors in 2010. This document is comprised of definitions and sample behaviors to provide guidance for physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. Since the clinical instructor (CI) is a student’s primary role model and mentor during the course of his or her clinical experiences, student perception of whether their CI demonstrated these core values may provide insight into whether or not the CI is successfully mentoring the student in those vital areas.
Methods/Description:
For this quantitative study, data was collected from a convenience sample of DPT students from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences who had recently completed their third and final clinical education experience during the Summer term of 2018. These DPT students represented the blended and traditional physical therapy programs from three of the university campuses. The students were asked to assess the demonstration of the APTA core values by their clinical instructor during their final eight-week clinical experience. The APTA’s Professionalism in Physical Therapy: Core Values Self-Assessment tool, which includes a 5-point Likert Scale, was used as the data collection survey tool. The subjects of this study encompassed clinical instructors practicing in diverse clinical settings with various backgrounds in education and experience. Data related to the clinical instructors’ demographics and characteristics were also collected to examine correlations between the students’ perception of their clinical instructors’ level of compliance with the APTA’s core values and these other characteristics. This survey assessment remained anonymous to all parties to ensure no conflicts or biases occurred.
Results/Outcomes:
Fifty-six DPT students completed the survey tool documenting their CI’s demonstration of the behaviors related to the core values. Frequency data in the form of percentage of responses that were rated as Always and Frequently for each core value was calculated. The core value with the highest rated student perceptions was Compassion/Caring while the one with the lowest rated student perceptions was Social Responsibility. Under the Compassion/Caring core value, the two highest rated items were related to 1) designing interventions that are consistent with patient/client needs and empowering patients/clients to achieve the highest level of function possible and 2) to exercise self-determination in their care. For the lowest rated core value, Social Responsibility, the two lowest rated items were related to community volunteerism and political activism.
Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme:
The core values needed during interactions in healthcare settings are fundamental to compassionate, ethical, and safe relationship-centered care. This study investigated students’ perceptions of their CIs demonstration of the APTA core values during their final clinical experiences. The results indicated that Compassion/Caring was rated the highest of the core values by the students. This supports the integral role that this core value has in the physical therapy profession, specifically regarding designing individualized interventions and optimizing patient’s level of functioning. Additionally, Social Responsibility was the lowest rated core value by the students. However, this reduced perception of the CIs social responsibility may be deceptive as it is possible that this was not actively demonstrated by the CIs, or the students did not witness any social responsibility behaviors during their clinical experience.
The data collected from this study provided insights regarding the quality of mentorship that CIs are providing during clinical experiences. As it relates to the conference theme, this study will enhance the continued efforts in building bridges between physical therapy programs and clinical partners and further develop the role of the clinical educator as a mentor.