Impact of Program Components on Perceived Organizational Support in Respiratory Care Education

Abstract

Background: Perceived organizational support (POS) has been linked to employee commitment, and job satisfaction. Understanding the effects of POS on employees allows leaders to improve employees’ performance and institutions’ success. This study aims to identify the POS across different respiratory care education (RCE) programs in the U.S. and determine the impact of program components on POS in RCE.

Methods: After obtaining approval from the institutional review board (IRB), all chairs and program directors of the bachelor’s (B.S.) and master's (M.S.) degree RCE programs in the U.S. were surveyed (n = 97). The Survey of Perceived Organizational Support, developed by Eisenberger et al, was modified after written approval. The final instrument included 31 items, including student-, program- and participant-related components, with a Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree). Descriptive statistics, multiple regression, and topic modeling (machine learning) were used for data analysis (P < .05).

Results: A total of 67 participants responded to the survey with a 69% response rate. They are satisfied with their job and committed to their institutions. They also reported that faculty salaries are equitable relative to the national average, and their institutions encourage teamwork among faculty. The participants’ titles (P = .023,) total years of administrative experience (P < .001), students’ scores (P = .001) on the national credentialing exam (TMC), and institutions offering both B.S. and M.S. degree programs have a direct relationship with POS in RCE programs (P = .005). Age (P = .001) and gender (P = .029) were inversely related to POS. A topic modeling analysis (Figure 1) based on the participants’ opinions about POS showed that the words frequently mentioned by the participants included support, institution, budget, year, nursing, and experience. Participants emphasized the importance of support, institution marketing, their years of experience, and the program budget. They also mentioned that nursing programs overshadow RCE programs at their institutions.

Conclusions: Age, gender, job title, years of administrative experience, TMC scores of students, and the type of programs offered impact POS by respiratory care directors. Student-, program- and participant-related components can be used to improve POS in RCE.

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