CLIENT’S PERCEPTIONS OF SERVICES PROVIDED BY FOURTH-YEAR PHYSIOTHERAPY STUDENTS IN A RESOURCE-CONSTRAINED COMMUNITY IN SOUTH AFRICA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY

N. Mshunqane^1,1, D. Anthony¹, C. Van Bers¹, L. Mndini¹, S. Mngadi¹, M. Moloto¹, M. Nolte¹

¹University of Pretoria, Physiotherapy, Pretoria, South Africa

Background: Client satisfaction regarding services offered by students and non-students has been the subject of numerous studies. However, studies on the perception of student-provided care are sparse, particularly in the field of physiotherapy. This led to a research project concerning client perceptions of services rendered by physiotherapy students in Daspoort, a resource-constrained community in Tshwane, South Africa.

Purpose: To establish client’s perceptions of services provided by fourth-year physiotherapy students in a resource-constrained community in South Africa.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, clients who have received services from fourth-year physiotherapy students in the Daspoort community were recruited. Ethical clearance was obtained from the University of Pretoria Faculty Committee for Research Ethics and Integrity for human subjects. Participants who agreed to take part in the study were given a pre-piloted self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were completed using SPSS data analysis software.

Results: Majority of participants had good knowledge regarding services rendered by fourth-year physiotherapy students. There was a statistically significant association between participants’ education and knowledge (p = 0.003). Overall, 97.1% of participants experienced high quality services, were satisfied with services provided and perceived receiving services from fourth-year physiotherapy students as positive.

Conclusions: The study revealed that patients' perceptions in a resource-constrained community were positive, with the majority of participants being satisfied with the services they received from fourth-year physiotherapy students.

Implications: This study demonstrated that clients from a resource-constrained community in South Africa benefited from services provided by fourth-year physiotherapy students. Furthermore, because community-based physiotherapy is an important component of the public health system, fourth-year physiotherapy student services should be continued in resource-constrained communities.

Funding acknowledgements: The study was not funded

Keywords:
Clients’ perceptions
Fourth-year physiotherapy student services
Resource-constrained communities

Topics:
Community based rehabilitation
Education: clinical
Service delivery/emerging roles

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: University of Pretoria

Committee: Research Ethics and Integrity for human subjects

Ethics number: 27/2022