ERIC Number: ED408902
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1997
Pages: 189
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: ISBN-91-7871-932-1
ISSN: ISSN-1102-7517
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Learning Physiotherapy: The Impact of Formal Education and Professional Experience. Linkoping Studies in Education and Psychology, No. 50.
Abrandt, Madeleine
This study investigated whether students of physiotherapy experienced the concepts "health,""movement,""function," and "interaction" differently during formal education and after some professional experience. Data were gathered by interviewing two groups of physiotherapy students at Linkoping University (Sweden) Faculty of Health Sciences, with the first interviews conducted before graduation and the second after 18 months of professional experience. Interviews were analyzed according to a phenomenographic approach and using the principles of contextual analysis. The study found that while there was some variation in students' perceptions of the concepts of health, movement, and function, the most common perspectives after completing formal education were holistic or mixed; this pattern remained most common also after 18 months of professional work. Students' perceptions of the concept of interaction were divided into four categories of communicative and problem-solving approaches: two integrated styles, mutuality and technicalism, which are respectively patient-centered and physiotherapist-centered; and two separated styles, authority and juxtaposition, which are respectively physiotherapist-centered and patient-centered. Both integrated and separated perspectives were reported after completion of formal education; after 18 months of professional practice, however, the dominant style became mutuality, the integrated patient-centered approach. The student-interview guide is appended. (Contains 150 references.) (CH)
Descriptors: Allied Health Occupations Education, Context Effect, Foreign Countries, Health Personnel, Higher Education, Individual Development, Interaction Process Analysis, Interpersonal Relationship, Interviews, Perception, Phenomenology, Physical Therapy, Professional Education, Psychological Evaluation, Psychological Patterns, Qualitative Research, Statistical Analysis, Theory Practice Relationship
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires; Translations
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Data Decisions Group, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO.
Identifiers - Location: Sweden
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A