Intrinsic and extrinsic factors important to manual therapy competency development: a delphi investigation

A learner's development of orthopaedic manual physical therapy (OMPT) psychomotor skills may be influenced by selected intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The purposes of this study were to identify the factors that influence learners' development of manual physical therapy competencies and to define each factor as intrinsic or extrinsic. A 3-round Delphi method survey and a retrospective review of the data were used to develop composite scores and rankings. Eighty manual physical therapy educators participated in the 3 rounds. Thirty-six factor descriptor statements associated with manual physical therapy competency were established and further categorized as intrinsic (19 total), extrinsic (10 total), or conceptual outliers (7 total). Cognitive Processing ranked as the most important factor influencing manual physical therapy competency development. Adaptation ranked second, followed by Science Knowledge. This study is the first to establish manual physical therapy educational factors associated with attainment of competency. The majority of the factors distill into the theory of extrinsic and intrinsic factors identified by Schmidt and Lee. The outcomes of this study identify the factors to which OMPT educators should give particular attention when developing and executing the learning experiences for their learners.