Perception of E-Learning among Physiotherapy Students

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a sudden drastic change in the teaching learning patterns globally. Educational institutes have shifted from the traditional classroom teaching to virtual classrooms. This transition is the need of the hour. It requires technical up gradation as well as better communication skills because the teacher and student are only interacting through a virtual platform. There are many difficulties that both teacher and students face during online teaching learning process. In this study we have tried to understand the perception of physiotherapy students towards E Learning. From the data received and analysed it was concluded that the physiotherapy students prefer traditional classroom teaching as it helps develop better hands on skills. Keywords: E-Learning, Physiotherapy Students, COVID-19 pandemic.

Petrha+

Role play and simulated patients are tools frequently used in undergraduate physiotherapy courses to help students gain familiarity with what they will find in future real-life encounters. However, these approaches have limitations when it comes to delivering diversity and repetition to a large number of students and are mostly bounded to the school's premises. Web-based virtual patient software can help to overcome these shortcomings as they equally require students to go through most of the steps of the physiotherapy process, and simultaneously offer unlimited diversity of cases and repetition opportunities and can be delocalized from physical schools. PETRHA + is an Erasmus+ strategic partnership of European high education institutions aiming at the improvement of a web-based serious game prototype designed to enhance physiotherapy students' clinical reasoning using virtual patients. The objective of this chapter is the presentation of the background context that led to the development of the serious game, its design features, functions, and ongoing and future developments.

Perception of Physiotherapy students on virtual classes

Background- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic Indian governments had issued stay-at-home directives, and as a result, colleges and universities have been shut down across the world. The major response to the pandemic has been to try to move both teaching-learning and assessment lectures online. so, studying the student’s perception of virtual classes is a must to consider the views. This study is important because of the physiotherapy profession's practical and skill-based practice, it is vital that we not lose focus on the non-technical skills that are required for effective clinical practice. Methods- This is an observational study with a study duration was of 1 year. All physiotherapy students from DVVPF’S college of physiotherapy were recruited by purposive sampling method by using a google form. Result- Data has been summarized by using the descriptive analysis method. Our data showed that 108 undergraduate physiotherapy students answered the questionnaire. They shared their experiences about online classes as compared to offline classes. they shared firstly about communication skills. in online classes students experienced that it does provide a platform to improve communication skills most of the time, & sometimes challenges due to the online environment during an emergency may delay the adoption of technology-enabled education. some students have technophobia because of that they cannot communicate on online classes or they faced difficulties. Conclusion- Our study revealed that on basis of the experiences of physiotherapy students’ actual classes are much more efficient and productive as compared to virtual classes.

Physical Activity Levels of the Physiotherapy Students in Rwanda during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Lockdown Period

BackgroundThe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and related social distancing measures have an impact on physical activity levels.ObjectiveTo assess the physical activity (PA) levels of the physiotherapy students in Rwanda during the COVID-19 lockdown period.MethodsWe used a descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study design. Eighty-one participants were recruited, and data were collected using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. We used descriptive statistics, Pearson Chi-Square and Kruskal-Wallis tests to assess whether there were statistically significant differences in physical activity levels according to demographic variables.ResultsThe median total PA metabolic equivalent of task (MET)-minutes/week score for all the participants together was 3546 (IQR=8714), meaning high PA. The rates for high, moderate, and low PA levels were 54.4%, 31.7% and 13.9% respectively. Male and rural participants had higher median total PA MET score than females (p=0.008) and urban residents (p=0.018) respectively.ConclusionsThe PA levels of the study participants during the COVID-19 lockdown period were higher than the recommended standards. Females and urban participants appeared to be less physically active than their counterparts. Further similar studies and interventions towards PA promotion among university students in Rwanda during the pandemic are suggested.Rwanda J Med Health Sci 2021;4(3):334-340

Inappropriate Patient Sexual Behavior in Physiotherapy: A Systematic Review

A behavior which is increasing in prevalence is sexual harassment initiated by a client and displayed towards the healthcare professionals and students of these healthcare-related professions. This is termed inappropriate patient sexual behaviour (IPSB). The consequences of IPSB can be significant, including decreased academic and work performance, decreased attention/concentration, reductions in work satisfaction, and a loss of confidence. The primary aim is to evaluate the literature on sexual harassment in physiotherapy. The secondary aim is to report on the incidence, situational factors, and suggested strategies. The databases Pubmed, Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus, Embase via OVID, ProQuest, and EBM Reviews were searched from inception up to 5 November 2021. Data on the incidence, situations, and strategies were extracted by at least two independent researchers. The quality of included articles was assessed. Nine studies of cohort and cross-sectional design were included. The incidence of IPSB was reported to be between 48–100% of the samples of physiotherapy students and/or therapists. The situational factors are reported, and the recommended educational strategies are discussed. Articles suggest that educating physiotherapists and/or students about sexual harassment would be beneficial. This will help predict potential issues and highlight strategies to empower therapists in the workplace and in training.

EFFICACY OF BRAIN GYM EXERCISES FOR IMPROVING QUALITY OF SLEEP IN PHYSIOTHERAPY STUDENTS

Human health has suffered a lot as a result of changing times and technological advances. Poor sleep quality affects people of all ages, non- pharmacological solution is increasingly becoming a requirement. Exercises in the brain gym are a good contender in the competition. However, there is still more work to be done before a definitive conclusion can be made about its effectiveness as a intervention. This study aims to evaluate the sleep disturbance and effect of brain gym exercises in improving sleep in the undergraduate physiotherapy students. Here’s idea we suggest to evaluate the sleep disturbance and effect of brain gym exercises as an intervention with duration of practice as 5 days in a week with a section of 25 minutes which is completed in one hour. Insomnia Rating scale is used to get the desired population for giving the intervention and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), which has 86.5% specificity and 89.6% sensitivity. The duration of study will be six months. The study design is pre and post interventional study. In this Hypothesis we aim to assess the efficacy of brain gym exercises for improving quality of sleep and treating mild to moderate insomnia. Brain gym exercises are already proved to improve the attention, memory, cognition and provide relaxation. The expected outcome includes detection of sleep disturbances and improvement in sleep quality which will be evaluated using PSQI. Data analysis will be done using students paired t test and conclusion of the study will be published after the results are analyzed.

Analysis of the Satisfaction Degree of Students at Spain’s Physiotherapy Universities in Relation to Online Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Student satisfaction is a crucial aspect in the quality assessment of higher education. The aim of the present study was to assess the degree of satisfaction among students in the Faculties of physiotherapy throughout Spain concerning online teaching during the State of Emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a quantitative study with a cross-sectional observational design. The online questionnaire DISFISCOVID was distributed to 24 physiotherapy faculties across Spain. A sample of 348 physiotherapy students from 14 Spanish universities completed the questionnaire. It showed high reliability evidence, achieving Cronbach’s alpha indices higher than 0.870, alongside a McDonald’s ωH of 0.876. On the whole, students were not satisfied with online learning during the State of Emergency, considering it unsuitable for their learning in either the theoretical or practical field of subjects in the degree of physiotherapy. In conclusion, the perception of physiotherapy students concerning the teaching they received, as far as practical contents and assessment methods are concerned, was not very satisfactory in those Faculties in which online learning platforms were not being used beforehand, and was more satisfactory when teaching was carried out in-person in the classroom.