Knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of final year medical, occupational therapy and sport science students regarding physiotherapy, in KwaZulu Natal.

Knowledge, perceptions and attitudes about physiotherapy  has affected its status. In a developing profession whose patient base is still significantly dependent on referral from medical practitioners, certain stereo-typic attitudes about it require attention. This study investigated the knowledge, ...

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Main Authors: T. Puckree, R. Harinarain, P. Ramdath, R. Singh, J. Ras
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AOSIS 2011-01-01
Series:South African Journal of Physiotherapy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://sajp.co.za/index.php/sajp/article/view/50
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spelling doaj-95865e0221e6413689172159f1943f1f2020-11-24T23:09:00ZengAOSISSouth African Journal of Physiotherapy0379-61752410-82192011-01-01673192610.4102/sajp.v67i3.5050Knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of final year medical, occupational therapy and sport science students regarding physiotherapy, in KwaZulu Natal.T. Puckree0R. Harinarain1P. Ramdath2R. Singh3J. Ras4Faculty of Health Sciences, Durban University of Technology and Department of Physiotherapy, University of KwaZulu Natal.Faculty of Health Sciences, Durban University of Technology and Department of Physiotherapy, University of KwaZulu Natal.Faculty of Health Sciences, Durban University of Technology and Department of Physiotherapy, University of KwaZulu Natal.Faculty of Health Sciences, Durban University of Technology and Department of Physiotherapy, University of KwaZulu Natal.Faculty of Health Sciences, Durban University of Technology and Department of Physiotherapy, University of KwaZulu Natal.Knowledge, perceptions and attitudes about physiotherapy  has affected its status. In a developing profession whose patient base is still significantly dependent on referral from medical practitioners, certain stereo-typic attitudes about it require attention. This study investigated the knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of the 2009 final year medical, occupational therapy and sport science students at one university in KwaZulu natal, regarding  physio therapy. A saturation sample of 292 students from the selected groups was  invited  to  participate  in  the study. The  cross  sectional  survey  used a questionnaire  with  open  and  closed ended  questions.  The  data  was  reduced to percentages and analysed using chi square tests at p< 0, 05. The overall response rate was 51% with 95% occupational therapy, 71% sport science and only 31% medical students responding. About 74% of the respondents had adequate knowledge about physiotherapy. Seventy five percent of medical and 50% of oT students knew that physiotherapists were first contact practitioners. over 50% of the respondents who had experienced physiotherapy displayed positive attitudes and felt that physio-therapy was a good career choice. Massage was the best known (95%) and electrotherapy the least known (44%) modality. orthopedics (88%), sports physio therapy (84%) and rehabilitation (78%) were better known. we conclude that the response rate to the study especially by medical students is of concern despite the overall positive attitudes displayed by the participants.https://sajp.co.za/index.php/sajp/article/view/50knowledgeattitudesperceptionsphysiotherapyhealth science students
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author T. Puckree
R. Harinarain
P. Ramdath
R. Singh
J. Ras
spellingShingle T. Puckree
R. Harinarain
P. Ramdath
R. Singh
J. Ras
Knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of final year medical, occupational therapy and sport science students regarding physiotherapy, in KwaZulu Natal.
South African Journal of Physiotherapy
knowledge
attitudes
perceptions
physiotherapy
health science students
author_facet T. Puckree
R. Harinarain
P. Ramdath
R. Singh
J. Ras
author_sort T. Puckree
title Knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of final year medical, occupational therapy and sport science students regarding physiotherapy, in KwaZulu Natal.
title_short Knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of final year medical, occupational therapy and sport science students regarding physiotherapy, in KwaZulu Natal.
title_full Knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of final year medical, occupational therapy and sport science students regarding physiotherapy, in KwaZulu Natal.
title_fullStr Knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of final year medical, occupational therapy and sport science students regarding physiotherapy, in KwaZulu Natal.
title_full_unstemmed Knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of final year medical, occupational therapy and sport science students regarding physiotherapy, in KwaZulu Natal.
title_sort knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of final year medical, occupational therapy and sport science students regarding physiotherapy, in kwazulu natal.
publisher AOSIS
series South African Journal of Physiotherapy
issn 0379-6175
2410-8219
publishDate 2011-01-01
description Knowledge, perceptions and attitudes about physiotherapy  has affected its status. In a developing profession whose patient base is still significantly dependent on referral from medical practitioners, certain stereo-typic attitudes about it require attention. This study investigated the knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of the 2009 final year medical, occupational therapy and sport science students at one university in KwaZulu natal, regarding  physio therapy. A saturation sample of 292 students from the selected groups was  invited  to  participate  in  the study. The  cross  sectional  survey  used a questionnaire  with  open  and  closed ended  questions.  The  data  was  reduced to percentages and analysed using chi square tests at p< 0, 05. The overall response rate was 51% with 95% occupational therapy, 71% sport science and only 31% medical students responding. About 74% of the respondents had adequate knowledge about physiotherapy. Seventy five percent of medical and 50% of oT students knew that physiotherapists were first contact practitioners. over 50% of the respondents who had experienced physiotherapy displayed positive attitudes and felt that physio-therapy was a good career choice. Massage was the best known (95%) and electrotherapy the least known (44%) modality. orthopedics (88%), sports physio therapy (84%) and rehabilitation (78%) were better known. we conclude that the response rate to the study especially by medical students is of concern despite the overall positive attitudes displayed by the participants.
topic knowledge
attitudes
perceptions
physiotherapy
health science students
url https://sajp.co.za/index.php/sajp/article/view/50
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