Relationships matter: a qualitative study of physiotherapy students’ experiences of their first clinical placement

Abstract

Background

Students’ experiences of the clinical learning environment are crucial to learning and professional development. Earlier research using the Undergraduate Clinical Education Environment Measure shows that students’ perceptions of supervision vary significantly between undergraduate programs, with physiotherapy students scoring higher than other students.

Objectives

We explored physiotherapy students’ experiences of supervisors’ preparedness, familiarity with learning outcomes, and supervision practices during their first clinical placement.

Methods

Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 physiotherapy students. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis according to Graneheim and Lundman.

Major findings

Within the latent theme A coherent whole throughout the placement, three manifest categories were found: Establishing a relationship, Fostering active participation, and Cultivating outcome-based learning. The students valued a supervisor who was prepared for the initial meeting and wanted to establish a relationship. When the students experienced a sense of trust, they dared to ask questions. The supervisors encouraged students to move beyond the one-to-one relationship and cooperate with others in the community to develop autonomy. Self-assessment enabled the students to identify their own learning needs and enhanced the possibility of achieving intended learning outcomes. The supervisors repeatedly returned to the learning outcomes.

Conclusions

Physiotherapy students highly regarded supervisors who established a relationship and fostered active participation by being available, promoting student autonomy, and encouraging cooperation in the community. The continual use of intended learning outcomes helped students identify their learning needs and achieve the outcomes.

Keywords:

• Physiotherapy
• undergraduate education
• supervision

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the students at Karolinska Institutet who devoted their time to participate in the study.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [MS], upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical aspects

The study was approved by the Regional Ethical Review Board in Stockholm (2017/38-31/4). The participants provided informed consent at the time of the interview, and they were reassured that their anonymity would be protected.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants provided by Region Stockholm (ALF project). The funding body did not participate in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation of data, or in the writing of the manuscript.

Notes on contributors

Malin Sellberg

Malin S. Sellberg, PT, MSc, is a physical therapist and a PhD student at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology at the Karolinska Institutet. Her research focuses on learning and supervision in the clinic.

Alexandra Halvarsson

Alexandra Halvarsson, PT and associate professor at the Department of neurobiology, care science and society at the Karolinska Institutet. Dr. Halvarsson studies different methodological considerations and has a focus of digitalization of evidence base training. Furthermore, Dr Halvarsson has an interest in clinical learning environments and supervision.

Malin Nygren-Bonnier

Malin Nygren-Bonnier, PT, and associate professor at Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet. Her focus is on function and health in respiratory and cardiovascular conditions as well as pedagogical research.

Per J. Palmgren

Per J. Palmgren, DC, MMedEd, PhD, is associate professor in Medical Education and mixed-method educational scientist at the Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet. His research addresses the environment in which students learn and teachers work.

Riitta Möller

Riitta Möller, MD, PhD, MMe., is an otolaryngologist and associate professor at the Department of Medical epidemiology and biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet. Dr Möller studies focus om students’ scientific development and learning environment.