The faculty of the Medical and Health Professions Education Program in the EVMS School of Health Professions proudly announces Joy Macheel's dissertation defense. The dissertation defense is an open event.
Date: October 14, 2026
Time: 10:30am ET (9:30am CT)
Link: https://odu.zoom.us/j/99898707178?pwd=uKS4W5aEdvWS59iO9g7S57NbN9zP1G.1&…
Full abstract: Physical Therapists are uniquely positioned to provide care across the lifespan and increasingly serve populations affected by health disparities and inequities. Preparing future physical therapists for culturally responsive and equitable practice requires development of cultural competemility, which integrates cultural competence with the ongoing self-reflection and humility necessary for continued learning and responsiveness to patients. Guided by Campinha-Bacote’s (2020) Process of Cultural Competemility in the Delivery of Healthcare Services, this quantitative study examined whether asynchronous online health equity education paired with reflective journaling was associated with changes in cultural competemility among first-year Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students. A quasi-experimental nonrandomized control-group pretest–posttest design was used, with cultural competemility measured using the Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competence Among Healthcare Professionals–Student Version (IAPCC-SV). Fifty students participated, and 47 with complete pretest and posttest data were included in the primary analysis. After controlling for baseline IAPCC-SV scores, students in the experimental group demonstrated significantly higher posttest scores than students in the control group, F(1, 44) = 22.47, p < .001, partial η² = .338. Individual-level analyses also demonstrated that a greater proportion of experimental participants experienced increases exceeding the established minimal detectable change. Exploratory analyses identified significant between-group differences in Cultural Knowledge and Cultural Skill, while differences in Cultural Awareness, Cultural Encounters, and Cultural Desire were not statistically significant. These findings provide controlled evidence that measurable cultural competemility development can occur following a relatively brief, three-week educational intervention embedded within first-year DPT education. Asynchronous health equity education paired with structured reflection may provide one approach for initiating cultural competemility development that can be reinforced through subsequent didactic, experiential, and clinical education.