Exploration of Self-Perceived Leadership Practices of Entry-Level Doctoral Students during the Doctoral Capstone Experience

Abstract

There is limited literature reporting the methodology of leadership advancement in entry-level Doctoral-Degree-Level Educational Programs through the Capstone Experience. The purpose of this study was to explore if self-perceived leadership practices increase after the Capstone Experience utilizing a one group, pretest-posttest design. Sixteen students completed the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (SLPI) from pretest to posttest. Self-perceived leadership practices of the fourth-year cohort of doctoral students increased significantly, t (15) = 5.42, p= 0.00007, with a large effect size (d= 1.355). Students enrolled in the community-based track were 31.25% of the sample, compared to 68.75% enrolled in the leadership track. Site mentors of the Capstone Experience were licensed occupational therapists for 37.5% of students, while the remaining 62.5% of students were matched with a site mentor outside of the occupational therapy profession. These results may indicate that through a transformative process of experiential learning, and with an emphasis on forging partnerships inside and outside of the profession, leadership growth is fostered through a Capstone Experience complementing didactic preparation in the classroom. Future studies should include an additional objective measurement and a comparison group to control for extraneous variables.