American Physical Therapy Association-Credentialed Clinical Instructors: A Survey Regarding Source of Motivation for Pursuing Credentialing

Abstract

Background and Purpose. The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) promotes clinical education credentialing for clinical instructors (CIs) through the Clinical Instructor Education and Credentialing Program (CIECP). APTA reports that since the program's inception, 34,657 CIs have received Basic CIECP credentialing status, which represents less than half of APTA's membership, and an unknown percentage of non-APTA members. To date, it is not known what motivates CIs to pursue credentialing, or if the motivation is more intrinsically or extrinsically driven. The purpose of this study was to determine the source of the motivational factors for physical therapist CIs who have pursued credentialing by APTA. Subjects. The subjects included 2,209 APTA-credentialed physical therapist CIs distributed throughout the United States. Methods. A pilot form of the survey was used to gain feedback from local credentialed CIs to establish face and content validity. Credentialed CIs were sent an email link to a 3-section survey. The first section consisted of demographic questions, while the second section consisted of 7-point Likert scale questions pertaining to intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation for becoming credentialed. Finally, the last section was forced choice questions also pertaining to motivational factors. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to compare all responses in section 2 between the intrinsic and extrinsic oriented questions, with paired t tests to determine specific question response differences. Results. Analysis revealed significant differences favoring intrinsic motivation. The 2 most significant intrinsic factors included contribution to the education of student physical therapists (SPTs) and professional development. Within the open-ended section of the survey more than 50% of the respondents reported intrinsic motivational reasons for becoming APTA Basic CIECP CIs. Discussion and Conclusion. Results from both the close-ended and forcedchoice questions demonstrate that the driving forces behind a CI obtaining APTA credentialing are intrinsic. The primary intrinsic motivators were professional development and personal satisfaction of helping educate students.