ATTITUDES TOWARDS PHYSICAL THERAPY IN VETERAN STUDENTS

J. Rasey¹, R. Morton¹, W. Ge^1,2

Background: Over 2 million military service members had served or were serving in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2010; with 32,224 service members wounded in action. Many veterans qualify for care from the Veterans Health Administration. It was founded in 2012, about 800,000 veterans received care through the VA with a drastic increase following the Afghanistan war. Physical therapy services make up a vast component of follow up care eligible through the Veterans Health Administration. Severe pain is prevalent in veterans and worse in veteran students. Most veteran students report a lack of resources on or off campus for dealing with their pain. Physical therapy provides non-surgical, non- pharmacological approaches for treating acute and chronic pain. Attitudes towards physical therapy determine the utilization of physical therapy services in veteran students.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the attitudes towards physical therapy in veteran students.

Methods: The research design was a cross-sectional nonexperimental survey. A total of 13 survey questions on attitudes towards physical therapy were administered using SurveyGizmo. Demographics were also collected. The survey was distributed to all 234 veteran students in a public university in Northeast Ohio.

Results: A total of 15 responses (7 males and 8 females) were received. The response rate was 6.4%.The majority of student veterans (40.0%) receive civilian healthcare for physical therapy. Among them, 33.3% of students strongly agreed and agreed that they were satisfied with their last physical therapy session; whereas 6.7% disagreed. Most students (46.7%) agreed that they understood questions answered by their physical therapist, but only 6.7% of students disagreed. Notably, 60.0% of students disagreed whereas 6.7% of students agreed that physical therapy services work as a placebo effect. 40.0% of students disagreed, 33.3% strongly disagreed and 26.7% of students remained neutral when asked if they trust physical therapists. The majority of veteran students (46.7%) strongly disagreed while the minority of the students (6.7%) agreed that the last time they saw a physical therapist, he/she did not understand their problem. 60.0% agreed with only 13.3% disagreeing that physical therapy enables them to take a more active role in maintaining their health. The last time the students saw a physical therapist, the treatment received helped to cure their ailment was strongly disagreed by 6.7%, disagreed by 13.3%, agreed by 46.7%, and strongly agreed by 20.0%. Only 6.7% of students strongly disagreed, 26.7% strongly agreed, and 40.0% remained neutral that their physical therapist understood and appreciated their background as a veteran and took that into consideration while treating them. Lastly, 40.0% of students strongly agreed, 33.3% agreed, and 26.7% remained neutral believing that physical therapists are a valuable team member in treating injured veterans.

Conclusion(s): The data indicated that the majority of veteran students feel comfortable and trust the physical therapist to treat their health problems.

Implications: The results provide data for physical therapy programs to enhance their educational curriculum to include more cases and scenarios involving veteran patients. In addition, the results inform advocacy activities for the physical therapy profession.

Funding, acknowledgements: None. 

Keywords: Veteran students, survey, physical therapy

Topic: Professional issues

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: Youngstown State University

Committee: Institutional Review Board

Ethics number: 183-19