Practice Style Traits of Student Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists.

BACKGROUND:Intensive efforts are aimed at understanding student attributes in anticipation that this will lead to effective knowledge translation (KT) strategies. One attribute of interest is practice style trait: four have been identified ranging from the seeker, who is driven by scientific evidence, to the pragmatist, who is driven by practicality.PURPOSE:To identify the prevalence of the four traits among student clinicians and explore associations between these traits, clinician characteristics and practice behaviours.METHODS:Ninety-two occupational therapy and 86 physical therapy students completed a survey that elicited information on traits, clinician characteristics, and practice behaviours.FINDINGS:The most prevalent trait was pragmatic, the least, seeker at <1%. The most prevalent reason for choosing an intervention was "it was used by my clinical supervisor".IMPLICATIONS:Educators should carefully reconsider the implication of using KT strategies that cater primarily to seekers. Research is warranted to explore the impact of matching educational strategies to traits.