Student Self-Assessment of Communication & Skills in Pediatrics: A Multi-Institutional Research View

Hands on, or experiential learning (EL), with children at all developmental stages and abilities is a critical component of pediatric physical therapy education. Students who participate in EL report positive student outcomes resulting from EL, including increased self-efficacy in pediatric-related skills. However, opportunities for EL are highly variable across accredited Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) programs, preventing standardized EL opportunities that result in the highest level of student learning for all DPT students. Variability in EL can be attributed to many factors including stakeholder involvement, pedagogical approaches, and logistical considerations. Multi-institutional educational research may be used to mitigate challenges to implementing EL and may inform the development of standardized EL pediatric experiences to improve student outcomes. Additionally, designing EL education experiences and measuring student outcomes aligns with APTA Pediatrics Education Research Priorities including effectively measuring outcomes of educational experiences and implementation of the National Study of Excellence in Pediatric PT Education’s child and family as teacher primary dimension of excellence. Standardized outcome measures, such as the Pediatric Communication and Handling Self-Efficacy Scale (PCHSES) can provide common student outcome metrics across institutions.

The purpose of this session is to describe the results of an educational research study across 4 DPT programs evaluating student
communication and self-efficacy measures while implementing EL in classroom-only, online, and hybrid models of curriculum. Exemplar learning activities and assessment strategies will be discussed as options for implementation in the classroom and clinic. Practical exemplars of learning experiences and assessment strategies with classroom-clinical application will be discussed.