The Effects of Pediatric Experiential Learning during a 1-Week Intensive

Background and Purpose.Growing evidence supporting the effectiveness of pediatric experiential learning (EL) in physical therapist education programs suggests that EL can aid in the development of students' clinical reasoning (CR) and self-efficacy (SE). Previous studies indicate that pediatric EL provides students with structured learning opportunities that may lead to meaningful gains in psychomotor skills, self-confidence, communication, and CR. Whether gains can be achieved during a pediatric intensive course rather than a semester-long course is unknown. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the change in perceived CR and SE experienced by physical therapist students who completed a high-dose (at least 15 hours) EL pediatric-intensive (1 week).Case Description.Second-year physical therapist students (n = 18) enrolled in the Advanced Pediatric Elective Intensive completed the Self-Assessment of Clinical Reflection and Reasoning (SACRR) and the Physical Therapy Self-Efficacy Scale (PTSE) on the first and last day of the course.Outcomes.A paired-samples t test revealed a statistically significant increase in SACRR scores from pre-test (M = 91.29, SD = 8.04) to post-test (M = 102.88, SD = 7.06), t (16) = 7.30, P <.001, as well as PTSE scores from pre-test (M = 13.44, SD = 2.64) to post-test (M = 19.00, SD = 2.06), t (17) = 9.70, P <.001. The results of this research suggest that active teaching methods, such as EL, may contribute to improvements in physical therapist students' perceived CR and SE.Discussion and Conclusion.Educators could consider a week-long EL intensive as a feasible and effective option to increase physical therapist students' perceived CR and SE related to pediatric physical therapy practice.