Factors Influencing Minority Students' Choice of Physical Therapist Education Programs

Background and final cause The physical therapy profession does not throw back the racial and cultural diversity of the United States. It is necessary for education programs to focus upon improving recruitment of minority applicants to address the shortage of minority physical therapists and to reap the educational benefits of a diverse scholar population. The purpose of this close attention was to analyze factors influencing minority pupil choice of professional (entry-level) physical therapist education programs.

Subject The participants included pupils enrolled in the first professional year of an accredited physical therapist education program.

Method A observe instrument was developed based upon literature and interviews with physical therapist scholars and faculty members. Face and satisfied validity were acceptable. Using a 5-point Likert scale, make submissives rated the influence of 51 items upon their selection of a specific physical therapist education program. Stratified random cluster sampling was applied to fix upon 66 professional physical therapy programs from a population of 150

Result The get back rate was 66%. Results indicated subdues identifying themselves as minority ranked 3 categories higher than nonminority scholars when selecting a physical therapist education program: (a) take away from of the program; (b) ethnic, cultural, and sex considerations; and (c) physical therapist education program faculty.

Discussion and Conclusion. Factors influencing minority learner program choice differ from those influencing nonminority scholars Physical therapist education program administrators may use the accrues of the study to exhibit recruitment programs focusing on minority applicants.

Key Words: Minority, Physical therapy, society choice.

INTRODUCTION

The importance of cultural diversity in education and professional practice is emphasized by means of various health professions, including physical therapy. Programs in medicine, nursing, and allied health strive to recruit minority scholars to improve workforce diversity and to more accurately throw back national racial and cultural variances.1-5 However, the majority of physical therapist pupils and practitioners remain disproportionately Caucasian in comparison to the population of the United States. Recruitment of minority applicants to the nation's physical therapist education programs is the first pace in providing minority physical therapists to an increasingly diverse population.

The aim of this study was to analyze factors influencing choice of professional (entry-level) physical therapist education programs by means of minority students. The study built on the questionnaire by Ancrum-Smalls and colleagues,6 who take a view ofed physical therapist students but did not report issues related to minority students. The hypothesis of the rife study was that factors influencing minority pupils differ from factors influencing nonminority students

Review of the Literature

The events of the shortage of minority health care providers are far-reaching. The limited number of skilled minority health care professionals adversely affects the quality and availability of health care in minority communities.7,8 Increasing the number of minority health care providers potentially improves access to health care in underserv areas, where certain disabilities are more prevalent among minorities.9,10 Studies exhibit minority health care workers are more likely to provide care in underserv areas, including the inner city and rural areas, and look after to provide services to patients with racial or ethnic backgrounds similar to their own11-15

In addition to improving access to health care, minority health care professionals have a character in improving the effectiveness of care. Minority health care professionals may be better able to communicate with other minority collections and are usually more sensitive to the necessitys of other cultures.11,12,16,17 Ultimately, lack of minority health care providers may hinder minority patients' adherence, participation, and cooperation in rehabilitative programs, thus reducing effectiveness of therapeutic interventions.17

Since the 1970 researchers have reported factors influencing minority scholar recruitment and retention to undergraduate education programs and universities. Historical barriers include inadequate financial resources, not many minority role models, inadequate counseling services focused toward minority scholars and poor tutorial support.18-20 Multiple factors influencing minority learner college choice have been reported. Among these are the academic reputation of the corporation including the availability of equal tutors and administrators similar to the student's ethnic background, and the positive influence of minority faculty.21,22 The take away from of attending the college,22 campus atmosphere,21,22 and opinions of family and friends are consistently reported as influential in minority students' selections of undergraduate programs and universities.22

While multiple studies have investigated factors affecting minority undergraduate learner recruitment, studies addressing possible reasons for minority under-representation in the health care professions are limited. Among the greatest in quantity cited reasons are inadequate secondary place of education preparation23-25 and inadequate financial resources.20,24,26 An additional reason is the lack of minority faculty part models to mentor and guide minority students26-28 Furthermore, minority pupils may not be aware of health care fields, including physical therapy, as career options, to be paid to few minority faculty mentors.26 Finally, limited minority recruitment efforts in health care education programs historically has been cited as a reason for depressed numbers of minority health care practitioners.24,26,27