Abstract
[Purpose] The goal of this study was to examine potential differences in physical
therapists’ perceptions of content areas for the new entry-level Doctor of Physical
Therapy (DPT) curricula and specialties for post-graduate residency and fellowship
programs among five geographical regions in Saudi Arabia. [Subjects and Methods] All
physical therapists in Saudi Arabia were invited to participate in this cross-sectional
study, which was conducted via a web-based survey. The first domain queried the importance
of introducing 10 content areas into future DPT curricula. The second domain concerned the
importance of developing residency and fellowship programs in nine subspecialties.
Descriptive statistics were generated, and an analysis of variance with a post hoc Tukey’s
HSD test was used to evaluate the significance of differences in the physical therapists’
perceptions across the geographical regions. [Results] In total, 148 participants
responded to the survey. Significant differences were found among respondents in different
geographical regions for 4 of the 10 skills and 3 of the 9 subspecialties. [Conclusion]
Understating the variations between the five regions would be helpful in developing a new
model for future DPT and post-professional programs that addresses potentially unique
needs perfectly. Future research is needed to confirm the findings in a wide range of
stakeholders.