Developing Student Leadership Skills Including Enhancing Student Confidence in Exercise Prescription and Improving Student Communication
Purpose: This study serves to identify student and faculty agreement on student confidence during client education, exercise prescription and exercise modification before and after a community based wellness program, as well as to analyze changes in student ability to communicate with and lead clients in exercise prescription over the course of the program.Methods/Description: 36 students in the Community Health and Wellness Class completed pre-course and post course surveys regarding their confidence with client assessment, exercise prescription and progression using a 10 point Likert scale, ranging from not confident to very confident. Faculty completed a paired evaluation based on observations of student client interactions during the first 3 client treatment sessions, and again during the last week of treatment. Rating was conducted on a student’s ability to confidently lead an exercise session, adjust to a client’s needs during an exercise session, and provide client education during the exercise session. Student and faculty pre-test responses were compared using Kappa coefficient inter-rater agreement and frequency reporting. Post test responses will also be compared using Kappa Coefficient inter rater agreements and frequency reporting. Collection of post-survey results for both student and instructor will take place on April 18th, 2018. Post- test survey results will be compared to the pre-test data to determine both self perceived changes in confidence and client exercise prescription, as well as compared to the instructor ratings to determine if students and instructors agree on the changes made during the program.Results/Outcomes: Pre test inter-rater agreement between student rating and instructor rating ranged from 12.90% to 35.48%. Additionally, when the instructor and student did not fully agree on their rating, student rated themselves lower than the instructors 48.39%5 to 80% of the time. When the instructor and student did not agree on their rating, students rated themselves higher 6.67% to 35.48% of the time. Across all questions, student and instructor responses agreed 19.56% of the time, with students over-rating themselves 20.11% of the time, and under rating themselves 60.33% of the time when compared to the instructors rating. Results comparing pre-test confidence scores to post test confidence scores will be available after the completion of the program in April 2018.Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme: Our Leadership Landscape: Perspectives from the Ground Level to 30,000 Feet: Students overall report lower confidence ratings, however, these same students have higher instructor ratings indicating students appear more confident than what they feel when prescribing exercise to a client. Overall, students and instructors have a poor agreement on the confidence level leading to the need for instructors to implement self reflection and self awareness activities into the course to appropriately assist with fostering confidence in students. On the contrary, recognizing students who are overconfident in their client interactions is necessary to promote safety.References: 1. Oien AM, Steihaug S, Iversen S, Råheim M. Communication as negotiation processes in long-term physiotherapy: A qualitative study. Scand J Caring Sci. 2011;25(1):53-61. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6712.2010.00790.x. 2. Marshall A, Donovan-Hall M, Ryall S. An exploration of athletes’ views on their adherence to physiotherapy rehabilitation after sport injury. J Sport Rehabil. 2012;21(1):18-25. doi:2010-0026 [pii]. 3. Bezner JR. Promoting Health and Wellness: Implications for Physical Therapist Practice. Phys Ther. 2015;95(10):1433-1444. doi:10.2522/ptj.20140271. 4. Desveaux L, Chan Z, Brooks D. Most prominent characteristics of those in PT leadership roles. Leadership in Physical Therapy: Characteristics of Academics and Managers: A Brief Report. Physiotherapy Canada. 2016; 68(1);54–58; doi:10.3138/ptc.2015-02. 5. Professionalism in Physical Therapy: Core Values. American Physical Therapy Association website. http://www.apta.org/uploadedFiles/APTAorg/About_Us/Policies/Judicial_Legal/ProfessionalismCoreValues.pdf. Updated 07/27/2012. Accessed March 30, 2018.