Navigating Student Challenges: From the Lens of First-Year Doctor of Physical Therapy Students

Introduction. Anxiety, depression, and burnout are being discussed across health professions. Despite rising concern, studies investigating stress in students enrolled in Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) programs remain limited. Only recently have studies exploring stress in DPT students surfaced with any consistency. In this study, our aim was to elucidate the self-identified challenges first-year DPT students faced, how they reacted, and what they did to manage them. Review of the Literature. Evidence suggests that DPT students, like other health professional students, report high levels of anxiety. Despite rising concern, studies investigating the impact of stress on DPT students remain limited. This concern also raises the question of the role of health professions educators in helping students develop the coping strategies needed to manage stress. Programs across the health professions have been proffered to address student stress; however, limited data exist to effectively guide educators. From the insights gained, we offer recommendations linked to the emic or student perspective that may help educators facilitate adaptive coping skills in their learners. Subjects. Participants included first-year DPT students from 3 private universities. Methods. A critical incident questionnaire was used to capture the student experience. Narratives were submitted electronically. Responses were deidentified, and researchers were blinded to participation. An inductive interpretivist approach was used to analyze the data. Strategies to ensure trustworthiness included prolonged engagement, triangulation of investigators, and peer review. Results. Eighty-Two first-year DPT students responded; 70 complete responses were analyzed. Three major themes were identified: 1) first-year DPT students faced academic, personal, and mixed challenges; 2) challenges evoked a range of negatively charged emotions; and 3) students relied on adaptive and some potentially maladaptive personal characteristics, behaviors, and strategies to manage their challenges. Discussion and Conclusion. First-year DPT students face many of the same challenges as other health professional students. Most successfully navigated their challenges, however, not without some degree of emotion. As educators, we must prepare students to develop the coping strategies needed to manage not only current academic stressors but ultimately the stressors inherent in clinical practice. Toward that end, we offer recommendations, linked to the emic perspective obtained, that may help educators facilitate adaptive coping skills in their learners.