Sports therapists’ perceptions and experiences of graduate employment

Abstract

Background/Aims Graduate employability is complex and has moved beyond the notion of subject-specific skills being sufficient for acquiring a graduate level job, to now include important transferable skills. Sports therapy is a rapidly expanding profession focusing on assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal conditions. These facets encompass components of critical thinking, problem solving, interpersonal skills and communication, thus courses can set graduates up for careers within or outside the industry. The three aims of this study were to survey BSc (Hons) Sports Therapy graduates to determine their current employment status and job role, explore graduates’ experience of their undergraduate programme and investigate graduates’ perceptions of how well the programme had prepared them for subsequent employment. Methods BSc (Hons) sports therapy graduates from two British universities were surveyed regarding their experience of their undergraduate degree programme and their perceptions of how well the programme had prepared them for employment. The survey was distributed to approximately 150 graduates and had a response rate of 23% (35 graduates). Descriptive statistics were used to describe the responses to the multiple-choice questions and thematic analysis was performed on free-text responses. Results Overall, 43% of respondents were employed as sports therapists and needed their degree to get their jobs. A total of 71% of respondents felt that their degree had equipped them fully or partly for employment. Free-text responses generated three themes relating to sports therapy specific skills, job availability and work-based learning opportunities. Managing student expectations, continued exposure to the range of career opportunities available and developing students subject-specific skills, ‘soft’ or transferrable skills, as well as personal characteristics, can help with employability. Conclusions Courses should be sensitive to the demands of a changing employment landscape and, as such, encourage a student-centred approach and support placement opportunities to help with graduate employability.