The Association between Program Characteristics and Enrollment in Postprofessional Doctorate Programs in Physical Therapy

For nearly three decades, there has been a shortage of doctoral-trained faculty and researchers in physical therapy and currently only a small number of programs offer an advanced doctoral degree in the field. Little is known about factors related to program choice for students in these programs. This study examined the following research problem: Are program characteristics/factors associated with enrollment (program choice) in advanced doctoral degree programs in physical therapy? The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental survey study was to determine which program characteristics, if any, were associated with enrollment. The findings from this study may be valuable to administrators for the recruitment of students, which is necessary to increase the number of doctoral-trained faculty. An author-developed, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the 36 active programs in the United States as identified by the American Physical Therapy Association, and was distributed for completion to the directors of these programs. The Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients were used to determine if program factors measured on the interval and ordinal scales respectively were correlated with enrollment. Alumni enrollment was found to have a positive relationship (p less than 0.05) with the number of financial aid awards given, r (16) = 0.59, p = 0.01, while international student enrollment had a positive relationship, r (17) = 0.52, p = 0.02 with the number of specializations offered. Fisher's exact test and Fisher's exact test extended were used to determine if enrollment was independent of factors measured on the nominal scale. Full-time enrollment was found not to be independent of delivery format, [chi][superscript 2] (6, N = 19) = 28.85, p = 0.003, as was international student enrollment, [chi][superscript 2] (3, N = 19) = 10.11, p = 0.01. Program administrators are encouraged to consider the relationship between enrollment and financial aid. Also, programs with frequent campus visit requirements are encouraged to focus their recruitment efforts locally. More data are needed to better understand program selection for this population. Those therapists that are most likely to enter academia need to be identified. Attitude surveys with prospective students and qualitative studies with current and past students are recommended. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]