Factors Contributing to Physical Therapists’ Job and Career Satisfaction in the United States: Results From a National Survey

Briggs, Matthew S.; Weber, Mark; Olson-Kellogg, Becky; DeWitt, John J.; Hensley, Craig P.; Harrington, Kendra; Kidder, Melissa S.; Farrell, Joseph; Tichenor, Carol Jo

doi:10.1097/jte.0000000000000244

Cited by 9 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…This nding is in keeping with other sources, which indicate relatively high levels of job satisfaction among physical therapists, particularly those who pursue residency and fellowship training. 59 There may be greater dissatisfaction by physical therapists who have been in the workplace longer, which is supported by the observed interaction effect, which demonstrated a stronger relationship between debt and job satisfaction for those who are older in age. It is possible that the educational debt burden by the healthcare workforce takes its toll on individuals as they progress further into their career.…”

Section: Job Satisfactionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Impacts of educational debt on physical therapist employment trends

Dickson

Hegedus

Mulligan

2023

Preprint

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Background: Newly graduated physical therapists have high amounts of educational debt. Educational debt may negatively affect job satisfaction, aspirations for professional development, and choice of workplace setting. Research has not shown this association directly, yet it is conceptually supported by the Labor-Search Model. The purpose of this study was to understand the role that educational debt has on additional factors related to job choice in the Labor-Search Model. Methods: Retrospective data were captured through the Virginia Longitudinal Data System (VLDS) for 12,594 licensed physical therapists within the Commonwealth of Virginia from 2014-2020. A fixed effects panel analysis, with inflation-adjusted educational debt as the variable of interest, was conducted to assess whether patterns of professional certifications, volume of work, workplace setting, and job satisfaction were related to educational debt. Results: Educational debt was positively correlated with higher professional degrees (p = 0.009), the number of hours worked per week (p= 0.049), and expected number of years until retirement (p = 0.013). Job satisfaction was statistically significant (p = 0.042) and negatively correlated with educational debt. Conclusions: Those with higher educational debt appear to have the habit of working more hours per week and have a longer time horizon until retirement. Newly licensed physical therapists with higher amounts of educational debt are more likely to experience this trend. Income and job satisfaction demonstrated an interaction effect on educational debt, such that those with lower levels of income had a stronger, negative relationship between their debt and job satisfaction, as compared to those with higher income.

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Section: Job Satisfactionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Impacts of educational debt on physical therapist employment trends

Dickson

Hegedus

Mulligan

2023

Preprint

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“…As part of a large national study comparing PTs who are residency/fellowship trained with those who did not receive this training, 8 this paper expands our understanding of competency development in PTs, which may help to inform employability, career success, career development, and job duties. 14,15 Our findings demonstrate elements of higher selfperceived clinical competency in the residency and fellowship groups compared with the nonresidency/fellowship group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Branching logic was used in the survey to improve efficiency and reduce survey burden. 8 Self-Perceived Clinical Competency and Job Duty/Responsibility Elements Eight self-perceived clinical competency questions were developed based on the Dreyfus 19 model of adult skill acquisition and refined by the study team and focus groups. e questions asked the respondents to rate their level of agreement or disagreement with each statement on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = "Strongly Disagree," 2 = "Disagree," 3 = "Neutral," 4 = "Agree," and 5 = "Strongly Agree").…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Participants in this paper were licensed PTs in the US who consented to participate in a national survey study examining postprofessional training opportunities (e.g., continuing education, residency training, and fellowship training) for PTs in the US. 8 Specific details regarding recruitment strategies and subjects have been previously published. 8 An electronic survey (Qualtrics XM, Provo, UT) was distributed through email to potential participants.…”

Section: Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additional details regarding this oversampling strategy are included in the paper by Briggs et al 8 A consent letter was provided on the first page of the electronic survey. 8 Before participating, potential participants had to click a box indicating their consent and then were allowed to proceed with the survey. 8 e inclusion criteria were licensed PTs in the US.…”

Section: Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparisons of Clinical Competency and Job Responsibilities of Physical Therapists With and Without Postprofessional Training

Briggs,

Gulla,

Howald

et al. 2023

JOPTE

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Introduction. Understanding how educational pathways may influence clinical competence and work responsibilities is important in providing guidance to academic and clinic stakeholders and physical therapists (PTs) on PT career development. The purpose of this paper was to compare perceived clinical competency and job duties between PTs with formal mentored postprofessional clinical education with PTs without formal postprofessional clinical education. Review of Literature. The understanding of self-perceived clinical competence of PTs overall in the United States is limited, especially as related to the impact of postprofessional education. Furthermore, there is limited understanding of the career pathways and development of job duties of PTs in the United States. Subjects. Two thousand three hundred thirty-four PTs in the United States. Methods. An online survey was sent to licensed PTs. This survey included items measuring self-perceived clinical competency and questions related to weekly job responsibilities. Participants were categorized as residency trained, fellowship trained, or non–residency/fellowship trained. Frequency analyses and Kruskal–Wallis tests with pairwise post hoc tests were performed comparing the 3 groups. Results. Residency-trained (P < .007) and fellowship-trained (P < .001) groups demonstrated elements of higher self-perceived clinical competency compared with the non–residency-/fellowship-trained group. Both the residency- and fellowship-trained groups spent less time with patient care and more time with other responsibilities (e.g., teaching, mentoring, and research) (P < .02) during an average workweek. Fellowship-trained PTs (P < .001) spent more time with administrative duties compared with the non–residency-/fellowship-trained group. Discussion and Conclusion. Results from this paper demonstrate that residency- and fellowship-trained PTs have elements of higher self-perceived clinical competency and spend more of their job duties outside of direct patient care compared with PTs who were not residency or fellowship trained. These results may help guide PTs, academic institutions, and employers in planning and achieving specific career paths.

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