Opinions of physiotherapy students on the effect of anatomy education in clinical practice course: A preliminary study

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to describe the dynamic connections between physiotherapy students’ anatomy and 4th grade clinical practice courses through student perceptions. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a three-part questionnaire was applied to 141 fourth-year physiotherapy students. The first part included the descriptive information of the students, the second part, the perceptions of the students on anatomy knowledge during the clinical practice course using a 5-point Likert scale, and the third part, the perceptions of the students on the subjects of systematic anatomy. Descriptive statistics and the explanatory factor analysis methods was used in data analysis. Results: According to factor analysis, a total of 21 items (Cronbach α=0.88) revealed 3 factors explaining 50.24% of the variance (p<0.001): (1) Compliance in clinical practice and anatomy courses, (2) Anatomy learning qualifications in clinical practice and (3) Importance of anatomy in clinical practice. The factors were significantly correlated with each other (p<0.05). Students who passed the anatomy course in one attempt and students who had experience working as a health professional showed high scores in factor 1 (p<0.05). Conclusion: Findings limited to student responses provides guiding ideas to anatomists and educational physiotherapists about the effectiveness and importance of anatomy education in clinical practice course.