Barriers to Leadership in Physical Therapy
Leigh Ann Fourie, SPT; Brooke Galley, SPT; Kelly Hoffman, SPT; Lauren Liszewski, SPT; Claire Leiker, SPT
Faculty Mentor: Christina Wisdom, PT, DPT, OCS, CLT
Purpose/Hypothesis:
In physical therapy, leadership roles guide high-quality care, research, and ethical behavior. Baby boomers occupy 64% of leadership roles in the APTA board and national committees, while recent graduates only represent 8% of APTA leadership roles. There is an increased need to fill leadership roles as baby boomers retire and the demand for physical therapists increases. Minimal research has been done to identify reasons for the lack of formal leadership in physical therapy. The purpose of this research was to identify barriers physical therapists face when deciding to pursue leadership roles within the profession.
Subjects:
Subjects included 216 physical therapists from various practice settings in the United States.
Methods/Materials:
An online survey was emailed to board members, chapter presidents, chairs of academic programs, and clinic coordinators, asking them to complete and forward the survey to other physical therapists. The survey gathered demographic data and asked about areas including: current leadership roles, plans to pursue leadership roles, self-ratings of attributes and skill performance on a 10-point scale. The survey also asked for reasons to discontinue current leadership roles. Descriptive statistics were calculated in Excel.
Results:
Respondents averaged 50-59 years of age (65% female, 33% male) and averaged 21-30 years as practicing physical therapists. Of respondents, 94% currently hold leadership roles. Of the remaining 6%, 28% listed themselves in categories that are typically considered leadership roles. Twenty-six percent of respondents stated they do not plan to pursue a leadership role, with retiring (5%) and disinterest (4%) as the primary reasons.
Of respondents, 38% did not list any barriers to leadership. However, 31% of respondents listed “puts too much strain on my work life balance” as a barrier, 15% listed “can't have the family life that I want,” and 13% listed “would rather impact the field another way.”
Respondents rated themselves lowest in “balancing personal life and work” (6.78 ± 2.13) and “confrontation “(6.53 ± 2.19).
Conclusions:
The majority of participating physical therapists hold a leadership position. The majority of respondents that reported not having a leadership position hold faculty or management positions, indicating a barrier to leadership may be failing to consider certain roles as leadership positions. Common barriers included work-life balance discrepancies, not desiring certain responsibilities, pending retirement, and disinterest. Respondents rated themselves lowest in work-life balance and confronting people, which have been shown to be important leadership skills. A lack of confidence in these skills may be a barrier to pursuing leadership roles. While many physical therapists hold leadership positions, there are perceived barriers to leadership. These must be addressed in order to engage leaders in physical therapy.
Faculty Mentor: Christina Wisdom, PT, DPT, OCS, CLT
Purpose/Hypothesis:
In physical therapy, leadership roles guide high-quality care, research, and ethical behavior. Baby boomers occupy 64% of leadership roles in the APTA board and national committees, while recent graduates only represent 8% of APTA leadership roles. There is an increased need to fill leadership roles as baby boomers retire and the demand for physical therapists increases. Minimal research has been done to identify reasons for the lack of formal leadership in physical therapy. The purpose of this research was to identify barriers physical therapists face when deciding to pursue leadership roles within the profession.
Subjects:
Subjects included 216 physical therapists from various practice settings in the United States.
Methods/Materials:
An online survey was emailed to board members, chapter presidents, chairs of academic programs, and clinic coordinators, asking them to complete and forward the survey to other physical therapists. The survey gathered demographic data and asked about areas including: current leadership roles, plans to pursue leadership roles, self-ratings of attributes and skill performance on a 10-point scale. The survey also asked for reasons to discontinue current leadership roles. Descriptive statistics were calculated in Excel.
Results:
Respondents averaged 50-59 years of age (65% female, 33% male) and averaged 21-30 years as practicing physical therapists. Of respondents, 94% currently hold leadership roles. Of the remaining 6%, 28% listed themselves in categories that are typically considered leadership roles. Twenty-six percent of respondents stated they do not plan to pursue a leadership role, with retiring (5%) and disinterest (4%) as the primary reasons.
Of respondents, 38% did not list any barriers to leadership. However, 31% of respondents listed “puts too much strain on my work life balance” as a barrier, 15% listed “can't have the family life that I want,” and 13% listed “would rather impact the field another way.”
Respondents rated themselves lowest in “balancing personal life and work” (6.78 ± 2.13) and “confrontation “(6.53 ± 2.19).
Conclusions:
The majority of participating physical therapists hold a leadership position. The majority of respondents that reported not having a leadership position hold faculty or management positions, indicating a barrier to leadership may be failing to consider certain roles as leadership positions. Common barriers included work-life balance discrepancies, not desiring certain responsibilities, pending retirement, and disinterest. Respondents rated themselves lowest in work-life balance and confronting people, which have been shown to be important leadership skills. A lack of confidence in these skills may be a barrier to pursuing leadership roles. While many physical therapists hold leadership positions, there are perceived barriers to leadership. These must be addressed in order to engage leaders in physical therapy.