The relationship between physical therapy clinical educator’s motivation and negative factors

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between physical therapy clinical educators’ motivations and negative personal factors. [Participants and Methods] The authors sent a questionnaire on clinical education to 790 physical therapists working in hospitals across Japan, and received 345 valid responses. The study defined motivated and unmotivated clinical educators based on their answers to the “interests” and “enjoyment” aspects of clinical education. It also calculated the negative response rate out of 10 questions and odds ratio based on motivated clinical educators. [Results] The motivated group comprised 287 clinical educators (years of clinical experience: 8.1 ± 6.3) and the unmotivated group 58 (years of clinical experience: 7.0 ± 5.2). There was no statistically significant difference in years of clinical experience between the two groups. Two questions—“Is student guidance necessary for growth as a therapist (self-improvement)?” and “Do you want to learn about instructional methods?”—showed very high odds ratios. [Conclusion] This study reveals negative personal factors for the clinical educators who lack the will to educate students, such as preparation for clinical education, self-improvement, and cooperation with class instructors. Longitudinal research on motivated and unmotivated clinical educators will help identify these negative factors to improve their motivation.