Analysis of Student Use of Textbooks in an Entry-Level Physical Therapist Program.

As costs of higher education continue to rise, textbook pur¬chase is an area in which students have control over spending. The purposes of this project were to: 1) describe textbook use among current students and recent graduates in one physical therapist program, and 2) determine how this information might be utilized in addressing faculty textbook decisions in entry-level education. Electronic surveys were sent to 83 students and 229 graduates of a Doctor of Physical Therapy program in Texas. Ten faculty completed an 8-question paper survey about factors considered in requiring a textbook. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and chi-square test for independence. Thirty-two students, 28 graduates, and 7 faculty responded. A total of 23 textbooks were required during the curriculum. Only 6 of 23 required texts were reported as "useful" by students. Graduates identified 3 texts as "useful" during early clinical practice. Six faculty required textbooks for classes; 4 indicated texts were "necessary" for student success. Students purchased a small percentage of required textbooks and maintained a high level of success. Results indicate that faculty are providing the required content. Faculty should carefully consider their instructional delivery when making decisions about if required textbooks are truly required for success.

Development of an Academic Professional Behaviors Assessment for Health Professions Faculty.

PURPOSE: An important component in educating health professionals is developing professional behaviors, which includes appropriate modeling by faculty. The purposes of this study were to: 1) determine examples of behaviors that faculty identify as important in measuring professional behaviors in themselves and colleagues, and 2) develop a tool that could be used in self- and peer-assessment for faculty. METHODS: Part I of this two-part study was a survey to determine which behaviors are considered valuable in seven categories of professional behaviors. Part II surveyed 113 faculty members across seven disciplines in one College of Health Professions to rank behaviors identified in Part I. Behaviors scored more than 2 SD below the mean were eliminated, and one-way ANOVA calculations were used to assess differences in rankings between professions. RESULTS: In Part I, 95 of 154 total behaviors were identified as most important at the end of round one; in round two, that number was reduced to 54. In Part II, 46 of the 54 behaviors were ranked as most important with no significant differences among programs. The Academic Faculty Professional Behavior Assessment was developed from these behaviors. CONCLUSION: Results of this study led to the development of an assessment tool which can be used across various health professions faculty.

A content validity of a clinical education performance tool: the physical therapist manual for the assessment of clinical skills.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The content validity for evaluation tools currently used in student physical therapists' (PT) clinical education has not been reported previously. This study assessed the content validity of the Physical Therapist Manual for the Assessment of Clinical Skills (PT MACS). SUBJECTS: Twenty-eight Academic Coordinators of Clinical Education were recruited from accredited professional PT education programs in the United States. METHODS: A survey was developed to match PT MACS skills to criteria from The Guide and A Normative Model. The survey was mailed these Academic Coordinators, who indicated their level of agreement on how the skills were matched to the criteria. RESULTS: The Academic Coordinators strongly agreed or agreed that 50 of 53 skills matched the criteria from The Guide and/or A Normative Model. They indicated with a visual analog scale that the PT MACS describes student behaviors needed for success in a clinical education experience. CONCLUSION: The PT MACS can be considered to have good content validity in describing the behaviors needed for success in a clinical education experience.