Student Satisfaction Among Transitional Doctor of Physical Therapy Students in Lahore, Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Survey
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53350/pjmhs02026207.4Keywords:
Student's satisfaction, physical therapy education, post graduate education, curriculum, higher educationAbstract
Background: An important measure of educational experience satisfaction is student satisfaction, which may offer institutions valuable information to help in determining strengths and areas for improvement. Transitional Doctor of Physical Therapy (tDPT) programs were created for advanced study by physiotherapists, but there is little data regarding student satisfaction with various aspects of a tDPT program in Pakistan.
Objective: To assess satisfaction among the Transitional Doctor of Physical Therapy students in Lahore, Pakistan.
Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was carried out on the students of Doctor of Physical Therapy transitional programmes in Lahore. Convenience sampling was used to select participants. A structured questionnaire, that follows the student satisfaction framework developed by Elliott and Shin, was employed for data collecting. The measure of satisfaction was for a five-point Likert scale of very dissatisfied to very satisfied. The data were analyzed descriptively by frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations.
Results: The total number of students was 76. The satisfaction levels were stepped up high as 69.7% of the students were very satisfied and 19.7% very satisfied with teaching and supervision. Likewise, 75.0% expressed satisfaction or very satisfaction with the curriculum, and 88.2% expressed satisfaction or high satisfaction with the supervisor's knowledge of research procedures. By contrast, the admissions policy was very uncertain with 56.6% of students choosing the undecided category. The overall satisfaction rate for students was 73.6% very satisfied or satisfied.
Conclusion: The majority of students experienced positive experiences regarding the curriculum, teaching and supervision, research assistance, and infrastructure and professional skills development. On-going student feedback, along with exploratory, qualitative research, may assist institutions in pinpointing areas of administrative and assessment practices that need improvement.
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