A Wellness Service-Learning Project Improves The Perception of Professional Empowerment in Physical Therapist Students

Abstract

William A Romani, PT, PhD, SCS, ATC, and R Lance Holbert, PhD Background and Purpose. There is an increasing demand to train physical therapist students to effectively develop, promote, and deliver wellness and health promotion programs. The purpose of this study was to determine whether participating in a community-based wellness or health promotion project improved the student's sense of empowerment by increasing their confidence in their ability to independently plan and participate in a similar service-learning project in the future. Subjects. Participants were 32 students enrolled in the second year of a 3-year Doctor of Physical Therapy program. Methods. Students attended a lecture on health and wellness promotion (WP) based on the Guide to Physical Therapist Practice. Groups of 5-7 students were assigned to 1 of 5 prearranged WP activities throughout the second year of their curriculum. Each group planned and completed a WP, reflected on the project through written self assessment and peer feedback, and completed a pre and postproject questionnaire. A nonparametric Friedman test was used to analyze questionnaire data and determine whether or not students' perceptions of professional empowerment shifted across time. Results. After completing the WP, students felt significantly more empowered to complete a similar project in the future. Discussion and Conclusion. Participating in service-learning projects may increase physical therapist students' sense of professional empowerment to practically apply health and wellness promotion concepts learned in their curriculum and may make them more confident to participate in similar activities after graduation. Key Words: Community health, Health promotion, Educational outcomes, Student confidence. INTRODUCTION There is an increasing demand for allied health professionals to develop health and wellness programs to promote the health of their clients as well as advance their profession and create a market niche for their practices.1 In 2006 the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) accreditation guidelines included 6 criteria that addressed prevention, health promotion, and wellness.2 The increased demand and new CAPTE criteria have created a need for physical therapist education programs to provide students with the skills to independently develop, promote, and execute wellness outreach programs following graduation. The Guide to Physical Therapist Practice' describes the roles that physical therapists play in prevention, health promotion, and wellness and how these roles fit within the scope of physical therapist practice. Although the concepts presented in the Guide can be presented in the classroom setting, creating effective, practical experiences to successfully implement these principles and empower students to use them after graduation is more challenging. In acute care, rehabilitation, and outpatient practice settings, physical therapist students participate in clinical internships structured by the Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI)4 to objectively measure educational outcomes. Wellness and health promotion are components of the CPI, but students rarely have the opportunity to apply these concepts to all clinical settings; the subject often must be addressed in other parts of the physical therapist education curriculum. One option for students to practically apply wellness and health promotion is a structured service-learning model. Service-learning models have previously been used in nursing,5,6 medicine,7 occupational therapy,8 and physical therapy9-11 settings to teach clinical skills and improve the student's confidence in their own ability to competently perform these clinical skills. Improving self-esteem and confidence in the ability to apply knowledge and skills are consistent with previous definitions of empowerment 12-17 and have been shown to be indicators of a student's likelihood to use his or her learned skills after graduation from other health professional programs. …