Self-directed learning readiness; PT education; OT education

1. Shelley Payne, DHS, PT, ATC
Peter Rundquist, PhD, PT, Julie Gahimer, EdD, PT,
Bill Harper, PhD

3.  “Guided by integrity,
life-long learning, and
a commitment to
comprehensive and
accessible health
programs for all people,
physical therapists and
physical therapist
assistants will render
evidence-based
services throughout the
continuum of care and
improve quality of life for
society.” (Vision 2020,
APTA)

4.  Be prepared to be a
lifelong learner and
keep current with
evidence-based
professional practice.
(ACOTE Standards,
January 2008)

5. Evidence
Based Care
Life-long
Reflection
Learners

6.  Set professional
learning goals
 Assess professional
knowledge needs
 Execute a learning
plan
 Evaluate outcomes of
learning plan
Shokar, 2002
Huynh, 2009
Healey, 2008

7. OCCUPATIONAL
PHYSICAL THERAPY THERAPY
 National Physical  National Board for
Therapy Examination Certification in
(NPTE) Occupational Therapy
 Clinical Performance (NBCOT)
Instrument (CPI)  AOTA Fieldwork
 GPA standards Performance Evaluation
 GPA standards

10.  Component of the
learning profile
associated with life-long
learning skills and
attitudes
 Concept first developed
by Malcolm Knowles
(1975)
 Learner can diagnose
their learning needs,
seek and use
appropriate solutions,
and self-evaluate their
performance

11.  Lucy Guglielmino
 58 item self-report
instrument
 5 point Likert scale
scoring for each item
 Well validated within
the literature
 Max=290
 Average score= 126
 Score ≥ 227= “highly
self-directed”

12. Real
Patients
Clinical Real
Education Settings
CI
Feedback

13.  PT and OT students NOT “highly self-directed”;
nursing, physician assistant, medical technolgy
students & faculty WERE (Linares, 1999)
 SDLRS weakly correlated (.26) to higher
ratings of medical students by clinical
preceptors (Shokar, 2002)
 Advanced pharmacy practice experiences did
not have a significant impact (Huynh)

14. 1) To determine if the final clinical education
experience improves the SDLR of Doctorate of
Physical Therapy (DPT) and Master of
Occupational Therapy (MOT) students
2) To determine if there was a difference in self-
directed learning readiness between DPT and
MOT students

15. 1) There will be no significant difference for DPT
or MOT students after their final clinical
education experience for their scores on the
SDLRS
2) There will be no significant difference between
DPT and MOT students in pre-test or post-test
scores for SDLR

16.  Email to program
directors to request
permission to solicit
participation from 3rd
year DPT and 2nd year
MOT students from
each institution
 On-site recruitment
 Consented individually
 Consent structured to
provide informed
consent for pre-test and
post-test

17.  Subjects completed
assessment packet
containing SDLRS
 Pre-test: within one
month prior to
beginning final clinical
experience
 Post-test: within one
month of completion
after final clinical
experience

18.  Able to combine data
from the individual
institutions to represent
the PT and OT
professions
 2x2 mixed model
ANOVA used to analyze
the SDLRS scores
between professions
and across time
 Alpha level set at .05 for
all analyses

19.  Response rate of 73% Subjects
 102 individuals
completed the pre-test
Female
 100 completed the Male
post-test

20. Pre-test Standard Post-test Standard
Program n SDLRS Deviation SDLRS Deviation
mean mean
PT 62 224.29 17.59 231.58 18.02
OT 40 221.30 20.93 225.55 21.92

21.  Significant difference
in pre-test to post-test
SDLRS mean scores
(p=.01)
 DPT and MOT
students had a
significant increase in
SDLRS scores from
pre-test to post-test

23. 1) There will be no difference in student scores on
the SDLRS after the final clinical experience
 This hypothesis was rejected
 SDLRS scores increased significantly after the clinical
experience for both groups.
2) There will be no significant difference between
DPT and MOT students for the SDLRS scores at
pre-test or post-test
 This hypothesis was accepted
 No significant difference between DPT and MOT
students for SDLR at pre-test or post-test

24.  Pre-test scores
indicated both groups
were „average‟ self-
directed learners
 Post-test scores for
both groups improved
for both groups
 DPT students at post-
test were „above
average‟

25.  PT and OT students to be „average‟ with regard
to SDLRS scores (Linares)
 Mean values for SDLRS in this study were
lower than those reported for medical students
(Shokar)
 SDLR scores were not improved after
advanced pharmacy practice experiences
(Huyhn)

26.  Clinical education
is a vital
Program Program Clinical component to the
Length Education development of
Length
University 36 months 39 weeks
DPT and MOT
“A” DPT students as life-
University 36 months 32 weeks long learners
“B” DPT
University 30 months 30 weeks
 Clinical education
“A” MOT also increased the
University 27 months 30 weeks students‟ level of
“B” MOT
intrinsic motivation
for learning

27. Self-report instrument
Larger DPT sample
Results may not be
generalizable beyond
these institutions

28. Longitudinal
analysis would be
better for curricular
evaluation purposes
Correlate SDLRS
scores to GPA,
board examinations,
or clinical evaluation
scores

29. Life-Long Learners
Modified Instructional
Strategies
Curriculum Evaluation
Tools [SDLRS & AMS]