Factors influencing study of physiotherapy and preferred choice of specialisation among final year physiotherapy students in Nigeria

Factors influencing study of physiotherapy and preferred choice of specialisation among final year physiotherapy students in Nigeria

Introduction: Over the years increasing number of students are seeking admission to study Physiotherapy in the universities leading to increased preference for specialisation as compared with general practice. This aim of this study was to identify factors influencing the study of physiotherapy and preferred choice of specialisation. Material and Method: The research was a cross-sectional survey involving final year physiotherapy students in three training institutions in South-West, Nigeria. The questionnaire is in three sections (section A sought responses on Socio-demographic characteristics, section B on factors influencing the study of Physiotherapy and section C on preferred choice of specialization). Content validation was carried out to eliminate ambiguity and ensure that all items of the questionnaire are relevant and well understood. Descriptive statistics of percentages, bar chart and mean was used to summarize data on age, factors influencing study of physiotherapy, the level of influence of each factor on preferred specialization areas of each participant and the factors influencing the choice of specialization. Result: There was a response rate of 72.2% and mean age was 22.69±2.32 years. Out of the eight factors influencing study of physiotherapy, ‘Desire to help people optimise their physical health and ‘Personal interest’ had the greatest influence with mean scores of 3.24 and 3.18 respectively. Ninety-eight participants (94.26%) were interested in pursuing postgraduate specialization in Physiotherapy. Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal physiotherapy is the most preferred specialization while Geriatrics is the least preferred specialization. Male students have preference for Sports while female have preference for Paediatric specialty. Conclusion: Exposure to specialties in Physiotherapy like Geriatrics and Cardio-pulmonary may help improve interest in those areas and hence increased preference for those specialties.

___

  • 1. World Confederation for Physical Therapy. (2011). Policy statement: Description of Physical Therapy, Available at http://www.wcpt.org/policy/psdescriptionPT #appendix_1Accessed May 21, 2016 850 pm
  • 2. Health Professionals Council of Australia. (2002). Promotion sheet, June 2002
  • 3. Moffat M. A history of physical therapy education around the world. Journal of Physical Therapy Education 2012; 26(1):13-23
  • 4. Akinbo S, Odebiyi D, Okunola T, Aderoba O. Evidence Based Practice: Knowledge, Attitude and Beliefs of Physiotherapists in Nigeria. The Internet Journal of Medical Informatics 2008; 4 (2) https://print.ispub.com/api/0/ispub-article/3229
  • 5. Struber JC. Physiotherapy in Australia- Where to Now? The International Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice 2003; (1) 2, article 5
  • 6. Oyeyemi A. Fifty years of Physiotherapy in Nigeria: Trends, perspectives and future direction. Journal of The Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy 2009; 17: 31-32
  • 7. John EB, Pfalzer LA, Fry D, Glickman L, Masaaki S, Sabus C, Okafor UAC, Al-Jarrah MD. Establishing and Upgrading Physical Therapist Education in developing Countries: four case Examples of Service by Japan and United States Physical Therapists Programs to Nigeria, Suriname, Mongolia and Jordan. Journal of Physical Therapy Education 2012; 26 (1): 29-39
  • 8. Maduagwu SM, Sokunbi GO, Jaiyeola OA, Shuaibu I, Maduagwu BC, Ojiakor AC. Knowledge of effect of exercise on HIV infected persons among Physiotherapy students in Nigeria. Journal of AIDS and HIV Research 2015; 7(9): 91-96
  • 9. National Population Commission Report, (2016). Available at http://population.gov.ng/index.php
  • 10. World Health Organisation, African Region. (2008). www.afro.who.int/index.php%Foption Accessed on 21st December, 2016, 11:56 am
  • 11. Ibikunle PO, Kalu ME, Useh U. Professional Motivation and plan amongst Graduating Nigerian Physiotherapy Students. Journal of Human Ecology 2013; 44(2): 203-206.
  • 13. Folayan MO, Sofola OO, Khami MR, Esan AO, Popoola BO, Orenuga OO, Folaranmi N, Ligali TO, Phillips AS. Study motives, career choices and interest in paediatric dentistry among final year dental students in Nigeria. BMC Medical Education 2014; 14: 130
  • 15. Odebiyi DO, Adegoke BOA. Gender distribution of Physiotherapy graduates from Nigerian Universities. Journal of The Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy 2005; 15(2): 45-47
  • 16. Mulnár R, Nyári T, Hazag A, Csinády A, Molnár P. Career choice motivations of medical students and some characteristics of the decision process in Humgary. Central European Journal of Medicine 2008; 3(4): 494-502
  • 17. Puljak L, Kraljevic JB, Latas VB, Sapunar D. Demographics and motives of medical school applicants in Croatia. Medical Teacher 2007; 29: e227–e234. doi: 10.1080/01421590701551714.
  • 18. Adam PS, Natasha P, Adamson SM, Thuy B. (2014). Specialisation training in Malawi: a qualitative study on the perspectives of medical students graduating from the University of Malawi, College of Medicine. BMC Medical Education 2014; 14:2 doi 10.1186/1472-6290-14-2.
  • 19. Khami MR, Murtomaa H, Jafarian M, Vehkalahti MM, Virtanen JI. Study motives and career choices of Iranian dental students. Medical Principles and Practice 2008; 17(3):221-226.
  • 20. Hallissey J, Hannigan A, Ray N. Reasons for choosing dentistry as a cereer- a survey of dental students attending a dental school in Ireland during 1998-1999. European Journal Dental Education 2000; 4(2): 77-81
  • 21. Nancy DS, William C, Stephen RD, Joseph G, Judith H, Ivor H, Susan GM, Daniel JS, Theodore CS, Bonita FS. Gender and Generational influences on the Paediatric Workforce and Practice. Paediatrics 2014; 133:6
  • 22. Fitzgerald L, Ferli E, McGivern G, Buchanan D. Distributed Leadership Patterns and Service Improvement: Evidence and Argument from English Healthcare. The Leadership Quarterly 2003; 24(1):227