Disability specific knowledge, attitudes, and skills among United States physiotherapy and other health professional students

To conduct a mixed-methods research study of Ohio Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD), and Doctor of Medicine/Doctor of Osteopathy (MD/DO) students and residents in the final years of their program to understand their knowledge of the Core Competencies and level of comfort and preparedness to work with people with disabilities. 

Participants in the final years of their program were recruited from all DPT, OTD, and MD/DO programs in the state of Ohio to participate in an online survey and in-depth interviews. Quantitative data was analyzed via SPSS and descriptive statistics were generated for each survey item. Qualitative data was analyzed via Atlas.ti22 using a constant comparison method of coding using both inductive and deductive thematic analysis.  

127 DPT, OTD, and MD/DO students from all 5 regions of Ohio and representing 10 distinct training programs completed a survey. Twelve DPT, OTD, and MD/DO students from all 5 regions of Ohio and representing 9 distinct training programs completed an in-depth interview. Most participants across the survey and interviews reported an overall low level of preparedness and comfort to work with a diversity of people with disabilities as a direct result of their core training. Furthermore, none of the 10 programs were adequately teaching the Core Competencies in their program, most programs referred to disability as a negative health outcome, and any anti-ableist disability competence training participants received came from elective coursework and not their core program. 

Participants in this study reported that they do not have comprehensive disability-specific knowledge and skills to competently care for people with disabilities and therefore do not feel adequately prepared to work with this population. Therefore, faculty in health professional training programs need to be trained on how to embed disability competence training standards into their curricula.

Improving health equity for people with disabilities needs to be a priority of physiotherapists globally. This research project has led to actionable curricular strategies that physiotherapy faculty can learn from this presentation to embed anti-ableist disability competence training in their programs.