Assessing the Development of Civic Mindedness in a Cohort of Physical Therapy Students

Abstract

Introduction and BackgroundColleges and universities have an obligation to educate graduate students who demonstrate civic literacy and who can engage in civic inquiry and action. Service-learning and community engagement courses are highly effective in developing civic-mindedness. Graduate professional programs may have additional reasons for focusing on development of civic mindedness. The purpose of this paper is 1) to determine if civic-mindedness increased in a cohort of physical therapy students exposed to a variety of civic engagement programs and service-learning courses and 2) to determine if there is a difference in civic-mindedness between students serving on a clinic Student Board and their classmates in a graduate physical therapy program.MethodsThe Civic-Minded Professional Scale (CMP) is a 23-item, 7-point Likert-scale survey designed to measure the domains of self-identity; work, career and profession; and civic attitudes, civic action, and public purpose to measure the construct of civic-mindedness. The CMP was administered to a cohort of graduate physical therapy students at the beginning of the professional curriculum and at the end of each of three years of didactic coursework.ResultsFriedman’s repeated measures ANOVA with post hoc testing revealed that civic mindedness increased in our students throughout the course of the graduate physical therapy curriculum.Discussion and ConclusionStudents involved in service-learning coursework imbedded throughout a graduate physical therapy program had increases in civic-mindedness. Service-learning coursework may be an effective way to develop civic mindedness in graduate students.

Civic-Mindedness Sustains Empathy in a Cohort of Physical Therapy Students: A Pilot Cohort Study

“…Service learning and its resultant development of civicmindedness may serve to support empathy. Our previous research found increases in civic-mindedness across a service-learning intensive PT curriculum (34,35). Results from the present study demonstrate significant increases in both the CMP and the Voluntary Action subscale across the curriculum.…”

“…Civic-mindedness is defined as one's knowledge of and/or involvement in the community and a commitment to acting on responsibility toward that community (36). Civic-mindedness increases in response to continuous civic engagement through service learning (34,35). Consistent service learning can foster communication, cultural competency, and professional core values; it may simultaneously foster empathy through making connections to outside groups (11,37).…”

“…Meaningful service-learning programs foster civic-mindedness in students through the development of civic knowledge, skills, and identity ( 33 – 35 ). Civic-mindedness is defined as one’s knowledge of and/or involvement in the community and a commitment to acting on responsibility toward that community ( 36 ).…”

High Civic-Mindedness Reduces Compassion Fatigue in the First 3 Years of Professional Physical Therapist Practice: A Pilot Study

“…and thus is reliable and valid ( 4 , 5 ). No norms or cut scores have been established; prior research has used the median of the sample to establish high and low scores for a particular sample ( 15 , 16 ).…”

“…Others are woven throughout the curriculum such as regularly scheduled community physical activity programming and the pro bono clinic ( 14 ). Students from the IPTE experience increase in civic-mindedness as they move through this service-learning intensive curriculum, with students involved in the leadership of the pro bono clinic experience greater increases in civic-mindedness by the end of the curriculum ( 15 , 16 ).…”