Why do students get enroll in physiotherapy course? A Cross-sectional study

Abstract

An individual with movement disorders, brought on by 
injury or disease, may get direct patient care from a physiotherapist (PT) in order to 
achieve their higher level of physical function and mobility. The most effective 
method of treating physical discomfort has been physical therapy. The number of 
universities and institutions offering the DPT degree program, and the number of 
students enrolled in the program both reflect the profession's rapid growth in 
different areas. A 5-year educational program leading to the doctor of physical 
therapy (DPT) degree includes courses in fundamental medical sciences in the first 
two years and in following 3 years it includes clinical sciences. The Higher 
Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan oversees the DPT curricula, which is a 
5-year degree/10-semester prospectus with 175 credit hours. Physical therapy has 
a long history in our country dating all the way back to 1955, but it wasn't a 
mainstream career until 2008.
Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the reasons why students enrolled 
in doctor of physical therapy course and the factors affecting the students' choice in 
getting enrolled in DPT. 
Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional study to find out the reasons 
why students enroll in physiotherapy course. The study was conducted in different 
universities of Gujranwala, Lahore and Sialkot. According to inclusion and 
exclusion criteria 370 subjects were selected. The data was collected from both 
male and female students. A questionnaire was filled by the subjects. Data was 
analyzed by SPSS version 20.0. 
Conclusion: It was concluded that parent's suggestions was most influencing 
factor to in choice of DPTand most of the student's received information about this 
physiotherapy course from friends and relatives.