Comparing Moral Reasoning Across Graduate Occupational and Physical Therapy Students and  Practitioners

Burke, Sarah; Newhart, Lindsey; Kern, Cheyenne; Milliner, Olivia

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Comparing Moral Reasoning Across Graduate Occupational and Physical Therapy Students and Practitioners

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MLA citation style (9th ed.)

Burke, Sarah, et al. Comparing Moral Reasoning Across Graduate Occupational and Physical Therapy Students and Practitioners. Howard, Brenda S..University of Indianapolis. 2019. uindy.hykucommons.org/concern/generic_works/25e61e43-00a6-4d35-bbf8-bf1b4e85aeaf.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

B. Sarah, N. Lindsey, K. Cheyenne, & M. Olivia. (2019). Comparing Moral Reasoning Across Graduate Occupational and Physical Therapy Students and Practitioners. https://uindy.hykucommons.org/concern/generic_works/25e61e43-00a6-4d35-bbf8-bf1b4e85aeaf

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

Burke, Sarah, Newhart, Lindsey, Kern, Cheyenne, and Milliner, Olivia. Comparing Moral Reasoning Across Graduate Occupational and Physical Therapy Students and Practitioners. University of Indianapolis. 2019. https://uindy.hykucommons.org/concern/generic_works/25e61e43-00a6-4d35-bbf8-bf1b4e85aeaf.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

Background/ Objective: Limited ethics education has led to moral distress in practice, contributing to unethical treatment of clients, high turnover rates, and increased healthcare costs.

Development of moral reasoning in OT and PT students has been significantly under researched. The purpose of this study was to analyze the differences in moral reasoning between first year and second year OT and PT students and between students and OT and PT practitioners. Method: Investigators utilized a cross-sectional study design with a convenience sample of University of Indianapolis OT and PT students and a combination of convenience and snowball sampling to recruit licensed OT and PT practitioners. Fifty-seven OT students, 35 PT students, 48 OT practitioners, and 18 PT practitioners completed the Defining Issues Test - 2 (DIT-2; Rest et al., 1999) survey.
Results: With 154 participants, the study was adequately powered for a medium effect size (.30). Comparisons of N2 scores using t-tests found no differences between groups in moral reasoning schema. However, Pearson's Chi-Square analysis for a comparison of all students to all practitioners for consolidation vs. transition (stable vs. developing) moral reasoning patterns was significant between students (transitional) and practitioners (consolidated), with the greatest difference between second-year students and practitioners.
Conclusion: Continual expansion of ethics content within OT and PT graduate programs may promote moral reasoning pattern development in academia with carryover into practice. Clinical experiences provide real-world opportunities necessary to progress students from transitional to consolidated thinking patterns. To improve ethics education, authors recommend active learning strategies and mentorship throughout clinical experiences.

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