Professional (Entry-Level) Doctoral Degrees in Physical Therapy: Status as of Spring 2003

Journal of Physical Therapy Education, Fall 2006 by Domholdt, Elizabeth, Kerr, Leann O'Reel, Mount, Katherine A

This current study, conducted in the spring of 2003, updates and extends the findings of the spring 2000 study of the Task Force on Entry-Level Doctoral Education.4 Like its predecessor, the findings of this study are already dated as it is being considered for publication. However, the importance of this educational transition for the profession of physical therapy suggests that it is necessary to document the process of this change in order to capture the history of the profession as we move toward professional doctoral education. Specifically, the objectives of this follow-up study were to:

1. Determine the status of decisions about the professional doctoral degree among accredited physical therapist education programs in the United States and compare this to the 2000 results.

2. Identify variables reported to be influencing decisions on changing to the professional doctorate and compare these to the 2000 results.

3. Identify issues reported to be facilitating or impeding transition to the professional doctorate and compare these to the 2000 results.

4. Determine whether institutional or faculty factors were related to program decisions about the professional doctoral degree and compare to the 2000 results.

5. Identify ways in� which DPT programs are different from previous programs with respect to students, curriculum, and faculty.

METHODS

Design and Subjects

In the spring of 2003, we conducted an Internet-based survey of the program directors of all 191 CAPTE-accredited physical therapist education programs in the United States that were listed on APTA's Web site. The study design and procedures were approved by the University of Indianapolis Committee on Research Involving Human Participants prior to implementation. The Internet cover memos used to solicit participation described the study and indicated that completion of the questionnaire would serve as evidence of informed consent. This form of consent was considered to be appropriate, given that the population of program directors is highly educated and accustomed to participating in survey research.

Prior to conducting this Internet-based survey, we sent open-ended developmental questionnaires via e-mail to 20 physical therapist education program directors, who remained eligible to participate in the actual study. These directors were chosen from institutions with varied Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifications and in different geographic locations. The developmental questionnaire asked respondents to briefly provide their perspective on the type of information they would like to know regarding the transition process, the content of DPT curricula, DPT clinical education models, and the role of inquiry in DFT programs. Using this input, we modified the spring 2000 questionnaire to create a pilot questionnaire. This pilot questionnaire was then sent via e-mail to the same 20 program directors who provided the developmental input. This time, the program directors were asked to respond to the pilot questionnaire and provide feedback on survey content and ease of response. Input from these directors was used to modify the pilot questionnaire to its final form.