Physical and occupational therapy undergraduates' stereotypes of one another

Literature suggests that increased interaction between physical therapy and occupational therapy students may improve their understanding of each other's profession. This cross-sectional study examined positive and negative stereotypes in an educational setting in which physical and occupational therapy students take over 25% of their curricular courses together. The aim of the study was to assess whether interaction between these students in and out of the classroom positively affected their views of each other, as compared with physical and occupational therapy students in previous studies who did not take classes together. Senior students, 25 physical therapy and 28 occupational therapy, completed two copies of the Health Team Stereotype Scale questionnaire exploring attitudes concerning their own chosen profession and the other participants' profession. They also completed an extracurricular activities survey to indicate how much they participated in activities outside of the classroom with students from the other profession. On the stereotype scale, physical therapy students' self-assessment compared with their assessment of occupational therapy students yielded 28 significantly (p<.05) different adjective pairs; occupational therapy students' self-assessment compared with their assessment of physical therapy students yielded 26 significantly (p<.05) different adjective pairs. The students rarely or never participated in extracurricular activities with each other. When comparing present results with those of previous studies, present subjects selected significantly fewer negative adjective pairs to describe the other profession. The results indicate a more positive view of each other's profession than in the previous studies. The interdisciplinary education model examined in our institution may have fostered positive attitudes among students in these programs.