Self-perceived competence and readiness of undergraduate physiotherapy students in treating patients with spinal cord injury.
Mokgadi K Mashola, Tamsyn Bauermeister, Clare N Urio and 5 others
Fourth-year physiotherapy students rated their competence to treat spinal cord injury patients at 70% and readiness at 73%.
Having completed a clinical block was associated with higher perceived competence, but not with readiness.
Key findings
1Mean self-perceived competence was 70% (s.d. 22.03) and readiness 73% (s.d. 21.42) on a five-point scale.
2Completing an SCI clinical block was associated with significantly higher self-perceived competence (t[46] = 2.80, p = 0.007) but not with readiness (t[46] = 1.82, p = 0.075). Prior experience treating an SCI patient showed the same pattern (p = 0.024 for competence, p = 0.207 for readiness).
394% of students had no prior experience with a patient with SCI, and 52% had not completed an SCI clinical block at the time of data collection.
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What it does not show
The questionnaire was self-developed and had not been psychometrically validated at the time of the study; the authors state it still requires reliability and validity testing. Only 48 students from 3 of 8 South African universities responded. One university did not respond, one required a repeat ethics process, and three stopped communication before accepting. Data were collected between March and June 2020, overlapping with the start of the pandemic and student lockdown, which the authors note may have affected participation and responses. 94% of students had no prior experience with a patient with SCI and 52% had not completed an SCI clinical block, so the sample reflects students with very limited hands-on exposure. The findings are self-reported perceptions, not measured clinical competence or observed performance.
Declared interests
No funding source or conflicts of interest were declared. The funding section provides only contact details for data access through the University of Pretoria.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 70% competence and 73% readiness scores as evidence that these students can safely treat a spinal cord injury patient. These are self-ratings on a questionnaire that the authors state has not been psychometrically validated, and 94% of the students had never treated an SCI patient before completing the survey.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →