Professional Development Survey Results Summary

1
Professional Development SurveyResults Summary

• September 2008
• (Highlights)

2
Response Summary

• The Professional Development survey was
  distributed to members in May 2008. 9549 members
  were invited to participate and total respondents
  were 1171 or 12.3.

3
Perceptions Toward PD

• In terms of PD, members believe they would
  benefit the most from CPA offering formal
  education opportunities (69). However, a deeper
  consideration of the data reveals that it is the
  general lack of access to, or perhaps awareness
  of, formal and informal PD activities that limits
  the response from members on this issue.
• The top areas in which members are seeking formal
  education are orthopaedics (incl. musculoskeletal
  and manual therapy 22), business skills
  (management, HR, marketing, etc 16, and
  neurology/Bobath 6).

4
Perceptions of CPA National PD

• 96 of respondents either somewhat or strongly
  agree that CPA has a responsibility within its
  mandate to provide PD programming to its members.
• CPA PD activities are largely considered to be
  on-par with other organizations providing PD
  opportunities to physiotherapists.
• Lack of awareness of CPA PD activities (45) was
  outranked only by Timing (47) as a major reason
  for non-participation.

5
Importance of PD

• 98 of respondents feel that participation in PD
  activities in any form is either somewhat or very
  important to their work on a day-to-day basis.
• Interestingly, only 69 of respondents feel that
  PD is either somewhat or very important to their
  employers.

6
Barriers to PD

• Situational barriers of cost and available time
  (both due to work and family responsibilities)
  were ranked highest among perceived barriers to
  pursuing PD. Respondents further cited
  geographic limitations and the related costs of
  travel/time off as major barriers. This is in
  line with research in the field of adult
  education.
• Lack of available training was cited as the most
  major institutional barrier by respondents (37).

7
Congress

• 56 of respondents have attended Congress in the
  past.
• Price was considered the most major barrier to
  attending (75), while nearly half of respondents
  also felt that the timing of Congress was
  inconvenient (49). By contrast, when asked to
  suggest how to remove barriers, only 26 of
  respondents requested lower pricing or additional
  discount options, and 3 asked to change the
  timing.
• Many other suggestions for improvement put
  forward are either already slated for
  implementation for Congress09 (eg, testimonials,
  advance notice earlybird deadline,
  scholarships, link with ODS), or requested
  resources/activities which are currently in place
  (eg, archived recording sales, discounted pricing
  for pre/post courses, etc).

8
Courses Workshops

• Although overall uptake in CPA National courses
  is low (8), satisfaction rates of those who did
  participate are quite high (87, or 4.4/5).
• Roughly 50 of respondents feel that timing,
  location and price of CPA National courses are
  the most significant barriers to participation.
  Only 25 feel that institutional (eg. appropriate
  programming) or dispositional (eg. desire to
  participate) barriers were a concern.

9
Teleconferences

• Only 39 of respondents indicated having
  participated in the Teleconference Program within
  the past season. However, more than 50
  indicated participation at some point in the
  history of the program.
• Over 75 of participants feel either somewhat or
  very satisfied with the program overall.
• Potential interest in multiple-session series is
  highest in a 1-2 Session category (75 interest).
  

10
Modes of Communication

• At least half of respondents felt they would be
  likely to participate in PD offered in any format
  with the exception of audio-only CD and
  online-only discussions. Print format ranked
  highest (3.30), followed closely by lecture
  (3.31) and workshop (3.30).
• Most respondents cited face-to-face learning as
  their preferred method of delivery (93), though
  a significant number also feel confident in
  blended formats (eg, mix of face-to-face with
  online or other distance format) (65).

11
Certificate Programs

• There appears to be high interest (65) in CPA
  developing certificate programs.
• Potential uptake in a certificate program for
  Clinic/Practice Management scored highest of
  those put forward in the survey, with 61.8
  support.
• An additional 14 of respondents showed interest
  in certificates leading to clinical
  specialization or advanced practice.

12
Support Funding

• Nearly 68 of respondents are employed workers,
  29 are self-employed and only 3 are currently
  not working.
• Over 70 of respondents indicated that their
  employers provide some amount of assistance for
  individual PD activities, while 41 provide
  assistance for departmental activities.
• 49 of respondents indicate that their employers
  provide non-tuition support for PD, including
  paid time off to attend, travel/accommodation
  allowances, and in-house programming. Many
  employers provide unpaid time off or schedule
  flexibility to help facilitate employee
  development.
• Many indicated that funding is not standardized,
  and is given on a case-by-case basis or dependent
  on job relevance.

13
Sponsorship

• Respondents generally strongly support the idea
  of securing financial support of PD activities
  toward lowering registration costs.

14
Demographics

• While the majority of respondents are aged
  between 36-55 (52), the largest single
  contingent of respondents actually falls in the
  26-35 range (35).
• When asked about years of service within the
  profession, the highest concentrations fell
  within the New Professional (lt5yrs experience)
  (16), and Advanced Professional or
  Pre-retirement (20yrs experience) (37) age
  ranges.
• Most respondents live in Ontario (47), followed
  by BC (16) and Alberta (13). Respondent
  breakdown by province corresponds closely with
  national membership statistics.

15
Demographics Continued

• A small majority of respondents work in clinical
  practice (Pub 44, Priv. 40), though a number of
  individuals qualified their responses, indicating
  that their work was in fact split in any
  combination of settings (eg. public/private,
  and/or management, and/or academic areas).
• Of specific practice areas, the highest
  concentration of respondents work in Ortho (65),
  followed by general practitioners (39), Sports
  (26), and surprisingly Acupuncture (24).

16
Survey Data

• The following information represents the
  highlights of the actual survey result data.
• (Highlights Only)

17
Perceptions Towards PD

• 1. Top areas of PD that members believe would
  best help meet their educational or clinical
  needs.
• Top Responses
• Specific Courses 711
• New developments in PT journals articles
  online research or reviews 46
• Modes of PD delivery (eg. Online) 45
• Better access to courses 30
• Evidence based practice 26
• Mentorship 20
• Best practices 18
• Formal Programs (e.g. clinical master's,
  specialization) 18
• Funding (education to purchase equipment
  writing research grants travel) 16
• Applied courses 12
• Incorporating research results into clinical
  practice 11

18
Perceptions Towards PD

• Specific Courses (Top 10 areas only)
• Orthopaedics, MSK and Manual Therapy 157
• Business (mgmt, marketing, HR, communication,
  leadership, admin) 114
• Neurology NDT 41
• Clinical practice skills 36
• Paediatrics 33
• Chronic pain/pain management 29
• Research/stats analysis 25
• Treatment techniques/modalities (eg.
  electrotherapy) 25
• Outcome measures
  
  21
• Clinical geriatrics
  14

19
2. Impediments to Professional Development
NB. Respondents were asked to check all that
apply. Responses do not sum to 100.
20
Section B Perceptions of CPA National PD
5. CPA has responsibility to offer PD
21
6. Overall satisfaction with CPA PD activities
22
10. Main reasons for non-participation
NB. Respondents were asked to check all that
apply. Responses will not sum to 100.
23
20. Topics of most interest for CPA congress
programming (Top 12 only)

• Orthopaedics and/or manual therapy
  70
• Business private practice skills (admin
  leadership communication
• marketing entrepreneurship)
  55
• Stats/research (journal searches up to date
  info, modalities, exercise approaches, community
  based, clinical)
  30
• Paediatrics
  
  23
• Neurology
  
  17
• Pain
  
  16
• Evidence based practice
  
  16
• Chronic disease tx (obesity, diabetes, stroke,
  severe developmental
• disabilities, HIV, arthritis)
  
  16
• Clinical reasoning skills (eg, case studies)
  15
• Practical courses
  12
• Outcome measures 12
• Collaboration with other professionals/communicati
  on across sectors 12
  
  

24
Section E - Courses and Workshops
24. Previous Participation in CPA National
Courses
25
Section G - Modes of Communication
33. Likelihood of pursuing PD in the following
formats
26
36. Preferred methods of learning
27
37. Comfort with participation in online learning
28
Section H - Certificate Programs
38. Potential interest in CPA certificates of
achievement
29
39. Certificate focus areas of interest
NB. Respondents were asked to check all that
apply. Responses do not sum to 100.
30
Section I - Support and Funding
40. Employment status
31
47. Amount of personal funding set aside for PD
each year
32
Section J - Sponsorship
48. Agreement with sponsorship for PD from the
following sources
33
Section K - Demographic Information
49. Participant breakdown by age
34
50. Participant breakdown by years in profession
35
51. Participant breakdown by employment setting
Other Acad. (16) Commun. (7) Consult.
(4) Gov/Milit. (3)
Homecare (4) Non-Profit (4) Industry (5) Student
(15) Unemployed/Retired (7)
36
52. Participant breakdown by province of residence
37
53. Participant breakdown by practice area
NB. Respondents were asked to check all that
apply. Responses will not sum to 100.