Do practice placements prepare Physiotherapy students to feel a sense of professional belongingness? A multi-institution, multi-national and multi-professional study.

The BeWIL study (Belongingness in Work-Integrated Learning) focused on the exploration of how WIL fosters belongingness for healthcare professions students during their educational journey. This paper describes this multi-national, multi-institution, multi-disciplinary study, with specific consideration for Physiotherapy students undertaking practice placements.

The BeWIL study surveyed healthcare professions students, including Physiotherapy students, using the Belongingness Scale- Clinical Placement Experience (BES-CPE) (Levett-Jones et al., 2009). The BES-CPE survey tool assessed 34 items using five-point Likert scale responses from always true (5) to never true (1). The survey measured belongingness across three key domains: esteem, connectedness, and efficacy and univariate analyses demonstrated the distribution of BES-CPE scores. Bivariate analyses compared average BES-CPE summative scores and domain scores across all demographic variables. Independent samples t-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted, dependent on number of response options. Bonferroni’s method was used to correct for multiple comparisons. Internal consistency reliability of the BES-CPE questionnaire for this population was conducted using Cronbach’s alpha. Respondents were omitted if they had missing values for any relevant variables. Statistical significance was assigned to results where p 0.05.

Fifty-five students from the United Kingdom and the United States completed the survey. Eleven allied health professions were included within the survey responses. 18 students were studying on Physiotherapy programmes. Survey responses represented all levels of education, from undergraduate to doctoral level study where WIL experiences were embedded within curricular and were compulsory elements of the programme. Summative scores for belongingness indicated that all healthcare professions students experience a sense of belongingness between sometimes and often. Each of the domain scores also indicated similar results. Results indicated that male, United Kingdom (UK) based Physiotherapy students had a higher sense of belongingness when compared with the rest of the sample (p = 0.046).

This study indicates that the sense of belongingness amongst all healthcare students on placement was moderate to high overall and tended to be higher when experiences were 6 weeks or longer in duration. Belongingness appeared higher among nursing students compared with allied health professionals, males compared to females, and amongst students between 24-28 years of age in the US and 34-38 years of age in the UK. The BES-CPE had strong internal consistency reliability in this sample.

Physiotherapy students’ sense of belongingness are directly impacted by placement experiences. There are distinct areas for improvement across all three domains, and the responsibility for this lies with all three parties: the student, the educator, and the university. Increasing understanding of how to support students throughout their placement journey is vital to retention within the Physiotherapy profession.