SUMMARY
Introduction: Although non-cognitive characteristics are increasingly valued in physical therapists, their contribution to the development of physical therapy students has not been well established. The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether measures of emotional-social intelligence (ESI), caring, moral judgment and leadership predict clinical performance of physical therapy students. Participants: Sixty physical therapy students, mean age 21.4 years, from two Masters entry-level programs, volunteered to participate in the study. Methods: At the beginning of their professional studies (entry), before and after 2 clinical affiliations, and at the end of their academic programs, the students completed four self-report questionnaires (independent variables): the Caring Ability Inventory (CAI), the Defining Issues Test (DIT-2) for moral judgment, the Self-Assessment Leadership Instrument (SALI), and the BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory Short (EQ-i:S) for ESI. For each instrument, higher scores represent higher levels of the construct being measured. The students were evaluated at each clinical affiliation by means of the Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI) (dependent variable). Results: ESI at entry was the only independent variable significantly correlated (r=0.25-0.43) with the average CPI scores (total and selected performance criteria) from the first two clinical affiliations. The CPI from the final affiliation could not be used in the analyses because most scores were close to the maximum score of 100 (mean=98.8). Discussion and Conclusion: ESI was significantly correlated to clinical competence, but the non-cognitive measures of ESI, caring, moral judgment and leadership could not adequately predict the clinical performance of physical therapy students.