Integrated clinical experience with concurrent problem-based learning is associated with improved clinical reasoning among physical therapy students in the United States

A quasi-experimental nonrandomized pretest-posttest design was used with a convenience sample of 42 participating student PTs during their third and final year of didactic coursework in the Midwest of the United States. Students participated in two 8-week PBL courses, with concurrent ICE throughout. The ICE stemmed from a departmental-sponsored and faculty-supervised SRFC that provided pro bono physical therapy services 2 afternoons per week to underserved individuals within the community. Clients across the lifespan were treated, including those with neurologic and orthopedic diagnoses. Third-year students were paired with an underclassman and faculty supervisor for all clinical care. Simultaneously, the students completed two 8-week PBL courses with small-group case-based sessions totaling 6 hours per week for 16 weeks. The Self-Assessment of Clinical Reflection and Reasoning (SACRR) survey, with 26 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 5 (strongly agree) to 1 (strongly disagree), is a reliable and valid tool for examining students’ self-reported perceptions of CR development across multiple curricular designs in allied health training, including physical therapy. The pretest-posttest survey analyses included changes in SACRR individual item responses and overall scores (aggregate of all items) between the beginning and the end of the 16-week session.