Development of Employability Skills-a Conceptual Framework for Professional Behavior Advising
Purpose
Professionalism is highly valued in health care practitioners, which is resulting in an increased focus by education programs on explicit instruction and development of student professional behaviors, skills and abilities. Presently, there is not a recent comprehensive review of valid and reliable professional behavior assessment instruments (PBAIs), nor is there a contemporary evidence informed educational model available to guide programmatic development of students enrolled in health profession programs. The purpose of our session is to share results from a systematic review (SR) of the literature which identified and evaluated PBAIs available for use and the development of an evidenced informed professional behavior advising model to guide student development during health professions training.
Methods/Description:
A SR of the literature was conducted in 2019. CINHAL, PubMed, ERIC and ProQuest were searched from 1999-present using key words, along with hand and grey literature searches for studies that assessed professional behaviors in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and/or speech language pathology students. Extracted data included study type, design, purpose, study characteristics and PBAI components, including reliability and validity of the instrument. The McMaster Critical Appraisal tool was used to evaluate methodological quality of studies. Data was analyzed and synthesized into conceptual themes, using the work of Portney and Jette as a guide.
Results/Outcomes:
Fourteen different PBAIs were identified for professional behavior assessment for PT and OT students. Five PBAIs were student self-assessment tools, seven for use by academic or clinical faculty and two were both self and faculty assessment tools. Ten parameters for professional behavior advising plans were extracted after synthesizing recommendations for use of each instrument. A conceptual framework was developed to guide advising processes within physical therapy programs.
Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme:
PBAIs are available for use in PT and OT disciplines. The identified PBAIs can be utilized to assess student performance and should be integrated into a student advising process. A formal and intentional process for advising students throughout an academic program may lead to stronger development of professional behaviors required for employability in todays marketplace.