The understanding of student satisfaction as a concept and the methodology by which it is measured varies greatly within higher education research. Studies of student satisfaction specific to the context of a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program in the United States are scarce and often use assessments borrowed from other industries. Of the…

Curricular guidelines to prepare United States-based Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students to address sexual health do not exist. The literature about this topic is scant and does not describe how DPT faculty design and deliver educational content related to sexual health. The available literature does not link curricular design and delivery…

Many Americans experience high levels of stress, particularly young adults and college students. Stress has been found to be particularly high among students in the health professions, including physical therapy students. High levels of stress, chronic stress, or stress that is not well managed can have negative effects on physical and mental…

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) between health professionals of various disciplines aims to improve patient care by optimizing patient outcomes and employee enthusiasm for their jobs. Interprofessional education (IPE) is the pedagogical approach to teaching IPC. There is an expectation that physical therapy (PT) instructors will adopt and…

The Commission on Accreditation of Physical Therapy Education requires Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program directors to have the necessary academic and professional qualifications to lead their programs, but many directors lack awareness of their leadership styles. The purpose of this quantitative descriptive correlational study was to…

The present investigation sought to explore whether meaningful relationships exist between underrepresented minority (URM) status, pipeline program participation, and student pursuit of physical therapy (PT) as a career. A total of 139 first-year post-Baccalaureate entry-level Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students participated in the research…

This study examined perceived barriers and benefits to holistic admission review in physical therapist education (PTE) programs. The mixed methods study utilized both quantitative and qualitative data collected via an online survey to accredited programs and collection of quantitative data from program websites, Physical Therapist Centralized…

Experts estimate that more than half of the people in the United States are at risk of poor health outcomes due to circumstances related to low health literacy levels. Physical therapist professional education programs represent a viable point of intervention to address health literacy in the population from an asset perspective, with the…

An inaugural Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) learning community (LC) curriculum developed out of a perceived need for intentional faculty-student interactions to address personal and professional development and contemporary practice issues. As cohort size almost doubled over the past decade without commensurate growth in faculty, fewer…

Background: Student success is the foundation for maintaining programmatic accreditation in all healthcare education programs. There is limited research on admissions criteria and predictors of success in physical therapist assistant education. The goal of this study was to understand the relationship between admissions criteria and student…

This study examined how recent Doctor of Physical Therapy graduates from a health professions graduate school with an interprofessional curriculum conceptualize their professional and interprofessional identity (i.e., dual identity). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 recent graduates in their first 1-2 years of practice working in…

The physical therapy profession has recently placed greater significance on leadership education and research at all levels of professional development. Excellence and innovation in physical therapy practice must address leadership development beginning in professional education. This call for reform has been adopted broadly, including from an…

This study explored doctor of physical therapy (DPT) students' attitudes, perceived knowledge, and perceived competence specific to social and structural determinants of health (SDOH). Current students in a DPT program housed within a college of public health in an urban research institution served as the participants for this research. The…

Previous research has demonstrated a lack of diversity in the physical therapy (PT) educational system. Guidelines from the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT) recommend evaluating noncognitive factors other than standardized tests and grade point average during the admissions process to address this lack of diversity. This…

Introduction: In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a majority of in-person higher education, including physical therapy professional education programs, to shift content delivery formats allowing for social distancing to decrease spread of the virus. The purpose of this investigation was to discover physical therapy student and faculty…