title: Effectiveness of pre-admission data and letters of recommendation to predict students who will need professional behavior intervention during clinical rotations in the United States.
abstract: The study aimed at finding the value of letters of recommendation in predicting professional behavior problems in the clinical portion of a Doctor of Physical Therapy program learning cohorts from 2009-2014 in the United States. De-identified records of 137 Doctor of Physical Therapy graduates were examined by the descriptive statistics and comparison analysis. Thirty letters of recommendation were investigated based on grounded theory from 10 student applications with 5 randomly selected students of interest and 5 non-students of interest. Critical thinking, organizational skills, and judgement were statistically significant and quantitative differentiating characteristics. Qualitatively, significant characteristics of the student of interest included effective communication and cultural competency. Meanwhile, those of nonstudents of interest included conflicting personality descriptor, commitment to learning, balance, teamwork skills, potential future success, compatible learning skills, effective leadership skills, and emotional intelligence. Emerged significant characteristics did not consistently match common non-professional behavior issues encountered in clinic. Pre-admission data and letters of recommendation appear of limited value in predicting professional behavior performance in clinic.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Chalee
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7891-1398
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Engelhard
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6685-6181
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Leugers
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Jenna
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5410-548X
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stephan
mesh_terms: D001519:Behavior; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003142:Communication; D054521:Cultural Competency; D003479:Curriculum; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D007858:Learning; D059825:Physical Therapists / Q000193:education; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty / Q000193:education*; D000068616:Professionalism; D013336:Students, Health Occupations; D013850:Thinking; D014481:United States
keywords: Cultural competency; Emotional intelligence; Grounded theory; Leadership; United States