Barriers and Facilitators to Pursuing Physical Therapy As a Career: Perspectives from Underrepresented Minority Students
Purpose/Hypothesis: The healthcare field has increasingly seen a need for diversity to better treat their diverse patients. By 2050, the US Census Bureau reports that minorities will make up just under 50% of the US population and the traditional white workforce will need to be replaced with minority professionals from diverse backgrounds to help meet the healthcare demands. Although many fields including medicine and nursing have sought to address this challenge of increasing diversity, the lack of diversity and increased representation of underrepresented minorities (URM) among physical therapy students is still apparent across many programs in the United States. The data suggests that few URM students are applying and even fewer are being accepted. Therefore, the purpose of this pilot study was to determine the most significant challenges facing URM students relative to applying for physical therapy educational programs and identify influential factors that determine their career choice.
Number of Subjects: 28 survey respondents met inclusion criteria: self-identified underrepresented minority (URM) students enrolled in an undergraduate healthcare related program
Materials and Methods: Links to an online survey were mailed to directors of ‘Office of Inclusion and Diversity’ of different public universities in Arizona and posted on the social media pages of several pre-PT clubs. The survey consisted of 30 questions and was designed to gather information about each participant’s demographics (educational, economic, and geographic disadvantage in addition to race and ethnicity), their knowledge about the physical therapy profession, identification of facilitators and barriers in pursuing physical therapy as a career of choice, and strategies to promote physical therapy as a career option.
Results: 81 students responded to the survey. 53 responses were discarded because they did not meet the inclusion criteria. Of the remaining 28 participants (5 men, 23 women), approximately 50% were Hispanic and had either parents with less than high school education with a gross household/family income of <$50,000. Greater than 90% participants lived in an urban area, were not married, and in their 1st year undergraduate program. About 85% of the respondents were familiar with the physical therapy profession, and 60% of those reported to have interest in pursuing physical therapy as a career. Responses to questions that focused on facilitators and barriers in pursuing physical therapy as a career of choice showed a wide variety, indicating personal, programmatic, and system areas where more strategies can be targeted.
Conclusions: The results from this study may help develop strategies for increased recruitment and retention of minority students in physical therapy programs.
Clinical Relevance: There are many different potential barriers associated with facing URM students relative to considering physical therapy as their career choice. More awareness about these potential barriers and facilitators will facilitate and promote diversity within the physical therapy profession.