Assessment of Gender Differences in Letters of Recommendation for Physical Therapy Residency Applications

Darren Q Calley; Sunyang Fu; Marissa D Hamilton; Austin W Kalla; Christopher K Lee; Veronica A Rasmussen; John H Hollman; Hongfang Liu

doi:10.1097/JTE.0000000000000337

Assessment of Gender Differences in Letters of Recommendation for Physical Therapy Residency Applications

J Phys Ther Educ. 2024 Apr 19. doi: 10.1097/JTE.0000000000000337. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Darren Q Calley^{1

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8}, John H Hollman^{1

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8}, Hongfang Liu^{1

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Affiliations

¹ Darren Q. Calley is the residency director for the Mayo Clinic Physical Therapy Neurologic, Orthopaedic, & Sports Residency Programs in the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences, and is an assistant professor of Physical Therapy at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, and is a faculty member in the Physical Therapy Doctoral Education Program at the Mayo Clinic, Siebens 7-57, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905 (dcalley@mayo.edu). Please address all correspondence to Darren Calley.
² Sunyang Fu is an assistant professor of Biomedical Informatics, and is an associate director of Team Science at the Center for Translational AI Excellence and Applications in Medicine (TEAM-AI) at the University of Texas Health Science Center.
³ Marissa D. Hamilton is a physical therapist at Mayo Clinic.
⁴ Austin W. Kalla is a physical therapist graduate at Mayo Clinic.
⁵ Christopher K. Lee is a physical therapist at Mayo Clinic.
⁶ Veronica A. Rasmussen is a physical therapist at the Hennepin County Medical Center.
⁷ John H. Hollman is the program director of the Physical Therapy Doctoral Education Program, and is an associate dean for Academic Affairs in the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences, and is a professor of Physical Therapy in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.
⁸ Hongfang Liu is a professor in the Biomedical Informatics, and is a director of Translational AI Excellence and Applications in Medicine (TEAM-AI), University of Texas Health Science Center.

PMID: 38640081
DOI: 10.1097/JTE.0000000000000337

Abstract

Introduction: Letters of recommendation (LOR) are an integral component of physical therapy residency applications. Identifying the influence of applicant and writer gender in LOR will help identify whether potential implicit gender bias exists in physical therapy residency application processes.

Review of literature: Several medical and surgical residency education programs have reported positive, neutral, or negative LOR female gender bias among applicants and writers. Little research exists on gender differences in LOR to physical therapy education programs or physical therapy residency programs.

Subjects: Seven hundred sixty-eight LOR were analyzed from 256 applications to 3 physical therapy residency programs (neurologic, orthopaedic, sports) at one institution from 2014 to 2020.

Methods: Thematic categories were developed to identify themes in a sample of LOR. Associations between writer and applicant gender were analyzed using summary statistics, word counts, thematic and psycholinguistic extraction, and rule-based and deep learning Natural Language Processing .

Results: No significant difference in LOR word counts were found based on writer or applicant gender. Increased word counts were seen in sports residency LOR compared with the orthopaedic residency. Thematic analysis showed LOR gender differences with male applicants receiving more positive generalized recommendations and female applicants receiving more comments regarding interpersonal relationship skills. No thematic or psycholinguistic gender differences were seen by LOR writer. Male applicants were 1.9 times more likely to select all male LOR writers, whereas female applicants were 2.1 times more likely to choose all female LOR writers.

Discussion and conclusion: Gender differences in LORs for physical therapy residencies were found using a comprehensive Natural Language Processing approach that identified both a positive recommendation male applicant gender bias and a positive interpersonal relationship skill female applicant gender bias. Applicants were not harmed nor helped by selecting LOR writers of the opposite gender. Admissions committees and LOR writers should be mindful of potential implicit gender biases in LOR submitted to physical therapy residency programs.