Students Perception About Educational Environment During The Entire Course Of Physiotherapy: A 4 Years Longitudinal Study

Longitudinal Study Of Physiotherapy Students’ Perception About Educational Environment

Abstract

Background: Students perception about educational environment in their four years of education may change and its information may prove to be crucial to improve the institutional profile. The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) is a validated tool to assess the EE. Purpose of this study was to collect information about students perception during their four years of graduation in a longitudinal manner and to report the changes over time. Methods: 2014 batch students were included in the present study. Perception of these students was measured with the help of DREEM questionnaire after the declearation of results in each professional year under five domains : students’ perceptions of learning; students’ perceptions of teachers; students’ academic self-perceptions; students’ perceptions of atmosphere; and students’ social self-perceptions. Results: The mean global DREEM score was 113.3/200 in the first year, 118.9/200 in second year, 129.9 in third year which increased to 141.9/200 in the final year. One-way analysis of variance followed by post hoc Tukey-Kramer multiple comparisons test revealed that there was statistically significant difference between first and fourth year scores with p value >0.05. Similar trend was observed in all five domains of DREEM questionnaire. Conclusion: The present study revealed Students in their final year of education found the EE to be more positive as compared to when they were in their first year. This may be due to remedial measures taken by the institute in due course of time as well as longer association of students with the institute. [Ganvir S Natl J Integr Res Med, 2020; 11(1):28-34]