Student Experiences Learning Psychomotor Skills in a Blended Doctor of Physical Therapy Program
Purpose/Hypothesis: There are now multiple entry-level Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) programs in the United States where the entire curriculum is delivered in a blended environment. Despite the growing literature investigating blended learning in physical therapy education, there is a lack of literature exploring the experience of students learning psychomotor skills in blended environments on the program-level. Due to this gap in the literature, a better understanding of the barriers and facilitating factors associated with learning psychomotor skills in blended DPT education is needed. The purpose of this study was to explore student experiences learning psychomotor skills in a blended DPT program.
Number of Subjects: 8
Materials and Methods: To gain an in-depth understanding of student experiences learning psychomotor skills in a blended DPT program, this study used a general qualitative approach. Eight members from a cohort who were scheduled to graduate from a blended DPT program in May 2019 participated in individual, semi-structured interviews. With the goal of providing rich descriptions, the transcript data from the interviews were open-coded and analyzed using thematic analysis. Coding and subsequent thematic analysis of the data were guided by Braun and Clarke’s six phases of recursive thematic analysis, (1) becoming familiar with the data, (2) generating initial codes, (3) searching for themes, (4) reviewing themes, (5) defining and naming themes, (6) producing the report.
Results: Six primary themes emerged from 37 codes which illustrated the participant’s experiences learning psychomotor skills in a blended DPT program. The emergent themes from this study were: (1) student processes for learning psychomotor skills, (2) course-required video discussion boards, (3) challenges faced, (4) strategies for resolving challenges, (5) support needed, and (6) advice for learning psychomotor skills in a blended DPT program. Together, these six themes provide an in-depth understanding of student experiences learning psychomotor throughout a blended DPT curriculum.
Conclusions: Due to the recent proliferation of blended physical therapy programs, the results of this study provide important insight into the barriers, facilitating factors, and support needed associated with learning psychomotor skills in this novel and expanding educational environment. Understanding the experiences of students who attended a blended DPT program provides important direction on how to improve upon and best facilitate learning psychomotor skills in blended educational environments.
Clinical Relevance: This investigation is an important initial step to fulfill the call for investigations exploring students lived experiences learning in a blended program and provides data to support the drive for excellence in PT education. Having an understanding of student experiences learning psychomotor skills in a blended program can allow current and future blended DPT programs to design and deliver content that best facilitates and supports students learning psychomotor skills in these environments.