Perceptions of the physiotherapy profession: A comparative study

Abstract

Within the framework of occupational prestige assessment, a study was carried out to determine the standing of physiotherapy relative to a range of professions, including a number from the medical field. The results indicate that physiotherapy possesses an intermediate status, and one that can be broadly equated with that of osteopathy: in fact, the two professions are virtually indistinguishable on most of the dimensions employed in the study. The results also reveal the position of physiotherapy relative to the nursing profession, and to that of medical practitioners. A feature of the study was the comparative analysis of undergraduate physiotherapy students' perceptions of the various professions. While they attribute a higher standing to their own profession than the public group (design students) involved in the study, their perceptions of the nursing and osteopathy professions are, at times, unexpected. Finally, multidimensional scalogram analysis (MSA) was used to provide typologies of the professions for each group.