Original Research Article
Year: 2020 | Month: October | Volume: 10 | Issue: 10 | Pages: 13-20
Awareness of Physiotherapy as Career Option among Higher Secondary Students of Nagpur City: A Cross Sectional Study
Anushka Sunil Rathi1, Ruchi Chandra2
1Intern, VSPM`s College of Physiotherapy, Nagpur, India.
2 Assistant Professor, VSPM`s College of Physiotherapy, Nagpur, India.
Corresponding Author: Anushka Sunil Rathi
ABSTRACT
Physiotherapy is an emerging field in healthcare with innumerable benefits and its demand continues to increase. The higher secondary students are eligible to pursue Bachelor of Physiotherapy programme. It is important to have awareness regarding the profession that is related to their field of study.
Aim: To find awareness of higher secondary students about physiotherapy as a career option and also to find common source of information about the profession.
Materials and methods: The cross sectional study was undertaken with the help of a Questionnaire which was distributed to 329 higher secondary students with biology as elective subject. Data was collected and statistically analyzed.
Result: 48% students said Physiotherapy is part of medical course, 65.6% students knew the role of physiotherapy in orthopedic conditions, 54% participants thought that physiotherapist cannot be the first contact practitioner, 47% participants said that they can prescribe medicine, 62% thought average income of physiotherapist per month is more than Rs20, 000 and 34% received information through professionals.46% students wanted to pursue Physiotherapy as their career.
Conclusion: The study indicated that higher secondary students of Nagpur city are still not completely aware of the scope of physiotherapy profession. Professionals and mass media have been identified as the major source of information about the profession. Appropriate measures have to be taken to create a good attitude towards the profession through these influential sources.
Key words: Physiotherapy, Awareness, Career option, Higher Secondary Students.