The impact of delivery models on psychomotor performance of manual procedures: a pilot study

Developing psychomotor competence in orthopedic manual physical therapy (OMPT) techniques is fundamental to post-professional physical therapy education. Concerns persist about whether online instructional models and the rise of hybrid physical therapy programs adequately support the development of psychomotor skills. The credentialing examination in Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT), which includes formal assessment of manual procedures, provides an opportunity to evaluate performance across training pathways for licensed physical therapists. This pilot study sought to determine whether the mode of instruction, traditional face-to-face training or a hybrid option in which at least one course was completed online, was associated with pass/fail performance demonstrated on psychomotor examination.

This retrospective study analyzed examination outcomes from 654 clinicians. Participants were categorized into two groups based on their educational experience: exclusively face-to-face (n = 360) or hybrid instruction (n = 294). A χ² test of independence examined whether there was an association between pass/fail outcomes and instructional method.

Pass rates were not associated with instructional model (face-to-face: 69.4%; hybrid: 69.7%; χ² (1, N = 654) = 0.61, p = .94). The number of courses completed online was not associated with pass/fail outcomes on the psychomotor examination (p = .11). Time-related variables were not associated with passing status. Face-to-face learners demonstrated slightly higher examination scores, the effect size was small (p < .01, d = 0.25).

In this pilot exploratory study of credentialing examination data, no detected association was observed between delivery model and pass/fail outcomes on a standardized psychomotor assessment for selected orthopedic manual therapy procedures. Future research with larger samples and prospective designs is needed to further evaluate factors that may influence psychomotor learning across different educational modalities.