Approach of physiotherapy students towards community placement: Perceived obstacles

Abstract

Context: Challenges on community clinical placements for students from various medical streams has been reported over time. Physiotherapy students are exposed to community clinical placements during graduation course as part of training. This study was conducted to investigate the attitude of Physiotherapy students towards community clinical placements. Aims: To investigate attitude of Physiotherapy students towards community clinical placements. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 181 Physiotherapy students (103 final years and 78 interns) from three different Universities in Mumbai using purposive sampling. Materials and Methods: A validated questionnaire was designed to gather information on attitude and perception towards community clinical placements. Statistical analysis used: Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS version 16. Results: Sixty-eight percentage of students reported keen interest in community clinical placements in which 78% were motivated by their past experiences in community services. Eighty percent of them reported that community clinical placements play a significant role in Physiotherapy education and training. The obstacles faced during community clinical placements were lack of interest in Physiotherapy among community members (80%), unavailability of local resources (57%), difficulty in communication in local language (48%), and unhygienic environment (33%). Conclusions: Physiotherapy students reported positive attitude towards community clinical placements as a part of curriculum and were keen in community services. However, lack of awareness about Physiotherapy among community pose barriers to this exposure.