Date of Award
5-1-2022
Degree Type
DPT Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)
Advisor
Celia Pechak
Abstract
Introduction: Bias is defined as a tendency to show favor for or against something or someone; bias can be implicit or explicit. When their implicit biases are left unchecked, healthcare practitioners are more likely to negatively affect patient health outcomes. The purposes of this study were to examine implicit racial bias among physical therapist students, and explore their perspectives about how cultural competency content regarding race and ethnicity could be improved in their current education program.
Methods: Thirty-three students from the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Program at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) completed a pre-Implicit Association Test (IAT) survey and post-IAT survey. Nine participants completed a semi-structured interview to explore participants’ _feelings about their IAT results and their assessment of the cultural competency content in their current education program. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and interview data were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis.
Results: Majority of participants predicted having no automatic preference to having a slight automatic preference for White/European Americans. On the contrary, the actual IAT revealed majority of participants having slight to moderate automatic preference to White/European Americans. Of the 33 participants, 9 participants correctly predicted their IAT results. Qualitative analysis identified 4 themes: the juxtaposition of self-awareness and IAT results, allyship, dangers of implicit bias, and curriculum improvement.
Discussion and Conclusion: Though participants were not aware of the extent of their implicit bias, they possess awareness of having a degree of implicit racial bias and acknowledge the potential for bias to affect the treatment and health outcomes of patients. Current literature suggests a positive relationship between cultural competency interventions and improvement in individual client/patient health outcomes, but not health disparities. Programs must specifically talk about race and the historical systems of marginalization that affect the health of diverse populations of people to impact health disparities.
Recommended Citation
Dawkins, Brianna and Kennerly, Joseph, "Implicit Bias Regarding Race in Physical Therapist Students: A Mixed Method Study" (2022). DPT Capstones. 3.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dpt_cap/3