Does interprofessional interaction influence physical therapy students' attitudes toward chiropractic?

Background: Interprofessional education (IPE) facilitates collaborative health practice, improving clinical outcomes.

Objective: Explore physical therapy (PT) students' observations about chiropractic, including attitudes amongst distinctive PT programs.

Methods: We administered a 74-item electronic survey, including 12 attitudinal items comprising the chiropractic attitude questionnaire (CAQ), to PT students at two universities. PT students at University 2 interacted with faculty members who were chiropractors, while PT students at University 1 did not interrelate with faculty members who were chiropractors.

Results: Mean CAQ score for University 1 was 35.92 (SD ± 5.62), while the mean CAQ score for University 2 was 40.67 (SD ± 5.34) indicating a significant mean difference of 4.75 (SE ± 0.89) points (P ≤ 0.001).

Discussion: Our results suggest that interprofessional interaction may improve attitudes amongst PT students.

Conclusions: PT students exposed to chiropractors via interprofessional interaction demonstrated a more positive attitude toward the chiropractic profession.