Subjective Difficulty of Each of the Items of Physical Therapy Assessment: Perceptions of Students and Clinical Educators

Abstract

[Purpose] We conducted a survey of students and clinical educators’ perceptions of difficulty regarding the assessment of skills in physical therapy, to clarify points of agreement and disagreement, in order to facilitate the provision of clinical practice education. [Subjects and Methods] Sixty-eight students, who had just completed clinical practice assessments, and 43 clinical educators were surveyed about subjective perceptions of difficulty regarding the 27 items of the physical therapy assessment. [Results] Motion analysis, integration and interpretation, and identifying the problem were reported to be ‘difficult’ by most of the students and clinical educators, with a stronger tendency shown by students. [Conclusion] Because there are some skill items which both students and clinical educators indicated difficult, and some which most of the students indicated difficult, it will be necessary to investigate factors affecting perceptions of difficulty.