Use of an Academic Professional Behavior Assessment and Intervention to Promote Professional Socialization

Professional socialization is the period in which a professional acquires the specialized skills, knowledge, and attitude of the profession. Professional socialization of physical therapy students begins day one in the classroom and continues through the transition to the clinic. To promote professional socialization among Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students, an Academic Professional Behavior Assessment (APBA) and advising plan were developed to identify, quantify, and improve professional behaviors.

This study explored the ability of the APBA to identify student professional behavior concerns and to determine the effectiveness of the advising plan to prepare the DPT student for transition to the clinic.

In this quasi-experimental study, DPT students (n=244) at a single university from 2004-2011 were assessed on the APBA every semester in all didactic courses. If behavior concerns were identified in two or more courses, students regularly met with their advisors for advising and to develop a professional behavior plan for improvement.

The evaluation process flagged 17% (n=42) of the students for advising. Of those who received advising, 36% (n=15) went on to have concerns in the clinical phase of their education. A student who met the APBA criteria was 97% more likely to pass the clinical phase of the program. Students were most often flagged for problems with professionalism and interpersonal communication regardless of timeframe and instruction style.

This study suggests that early professional socialization during the classroom portion of a student's DPT education is effective in shaping substandard professional behaviors and positively impacting later clinical performance.