Do We Practice What We Preach: Are We Successful at Lifestyles of Health and Wellness?
Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study is to examine professionals in the field of physical therapy to investigate if they are consistent in living a lifestyle of health and wellness synonymous with the lifestyle the profession advocates for its patients.
Number of Subjects: The project included 760 survey responses.
Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive survey allowing participants to complete a single use, anonymous, Qualtrics survey inquiring about the participants lifestyles concerning eating, sleeping, and physical activity habits. The inclusion criteria consisted of male and female subjects ranging between 18-64 years old who work in the field of physical therapy (PT, PTA, SPT, SPTA). The survey was distributed via a social media and email campaign. Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were the social media platforms used; while the Central Directors of Clinical Education Consortium school program members, and the Kansas Board of Healing Arts physical therapist and physical therapists assistant licensee email distribution lists were used as means of distributing the survey. After collecting the data, a Pearson Correlation analysis was conducted.
Results: Statistically significant correlations were found between professionals in the field of physical therapy and their lifestyle habits concerning health and exercise. No significant correlation was found with habits concerning sleeping, alcohol use, or tobacco use. A medium negative relationship was found between amount of time worked and total health habits , r = -.156, p = .01. A medium positive relationship was found between credentials and total health habits , r = .231, p = .01 and credentials and total exercise habits, r = .303, p = .01. A positive small relationship was found between salary reported and total exercise habits, r = .127, p = .01.
Conclusions: Professionals working in the field of physical therapy are moderately practicing what we preach, by living a lifestyle of health and wellness synonymous with the lifestyle the profession advocates for its patients according to the results of our survey. The amount of time a therapist works also showed to negatively impact their health habits, suggesting that with more time commitment to the tasks of caring for patients, we as a profession tend to take less time to care for ourselves. The type of credentials a therapist possessed positively related to the health and exercise habits reported in our survey suggesting the more training or education we receive as therapists, the more we focus on our own healthy lifestyle habits. Overall the results of our survey support that professional in the field of physical therapy work to demonstrate lifestyle habits of health and wellness that we promote to our patients, but as more constraints are placed on our time, these habits can start to decline. It’s important that we take the advice we often give our patients, that it’s important to take time for ourselves and our health.
Clinical Relevance: This research allows the APTA and the professionals within the physical therapy profession to validate if the profession is fulfilling the APTA 2020 Vision Statement by living a lifestyle of health and wellness synonymous with the lifestyle the profession advocates for its patients. Additionally, the results of this research serve as a foundation to further strengthen the therapeutic alliance by confirming that the physical therapy profession is living lifestyles in accordance with the APTA 2020 Vision Statement; or serve as a platform to encourage the professionals within the physical therapy profession to change their lifestyle to become synonymous with the lifestyle the profession advocates for its patients. This research serves its clinical relevance by allowing the profession, as a community, a moment to reflect on their lifestyle and to further reflect on what that means to their patients.