Perception towards research among undergraduate physical therapy students

Abstract

Objective: To know the perception of students regarding Research among undergraduate physical therapy students.; Material and methods: This was an observational cross sectional study with non–probability convenience sampling technique. The data was collected from different physical therapy institutes, Isra Institute of Rehabilitation sciences Karachi and Isra University Hyderabad. The duration of the study was July to December 2014. Inclusion criteria were Final year undergraduate Physical Therapy Students, either gender and who were willing to participate. Exclusion criteria were Undergraduate students of 1st 2nd, 3rd and 4th year, Post graduate physical therapy students and those who did not give consent. Data Collection Procedure was a questionnaire with consent form was distributed to all participants. Validated questionnaire adapted from Andrea Tschirner et al study in 2011. Questionnaire contained closed ended questions. SPSS version 20.0 was used to analyzed the data.; Results: A total of 100 participants involved in the study. There were 72 female and 28 male participants. There were 84% respondents strongly agreed that research in under graduate is necessary for positive growth in the physiotherapy profession, 12% (12) participants were agreed and 4% (4) was disagreed. When the participants were asked that is research exploring the effectiveness of physiotherapy treatment is necessary for positive growth in the physiotherapy profession maximum number of individuals showed strongly agree response i.e. 75% (75) however 25(25%) participant marked agree option.; Conclusion: Majority of the students perceive that research in undergraduate is necessary for positive of the physical therapy profession. Scientific research in postgraduate is necessary for positive growth in the physiotherapy profession.