Purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify the path for choosing physical therapy as a career. Subjects: The subjects were 100 first year students and 82 second year students enrolled in the entry level Master's Physical Therapy program at Nova Southeastern University. Methodology: The 21 Item attitude inventory and demographic information survey was used to collect data. A pilot study was conducted on 10 subjects to determine whether any changes or clarifications should be made to the questionnaire, but no recommendations were indicated. The surveys were distributed and collected by the researcher in a classroom setting. Results: In addition to the inherent nature of physical therapy as a profession that helps people, students who choose physical therapy as a career do so for a variety of other reasons. External factors such as good salary, job availability, regular working hours, and prestige are the most appealing features of this profession. Conclusion: Students choose physical therapy for many reasons. They enjoy helping people and receiving gratitude from patients. They also appreciate the variety of work settings that physical therapy has to offer as well as the prestige and job availability. They also value the close relationships physical therapists have with their patients.
| Date of Award | Jan 1 1998 |
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| Original language | English |
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