Abstract
[Purpose] To clarify longitudinal changes in physical therapy students’ interest in specialized fields. [Subjects and Methods] A questionnaire survey was conducted, involving 98 students who were in their fourth year at the Department of Physical Therapy in FY2016. The questionnaire was conducted at 4 points: during the first half of the second year, first and second halves of the third year, and second half of the fourth year, to ask the students to choose 1 specialized field and 1 specialized domain which interested them the most from 7 and 23 options, respectively. [Results] The students’ interest in <Basic physical therapy sciences>, <Neurology>, and <Cardiovascular, pulmonary and metabolic disease> as specialized fields longitudinally increased. As for specialized domains, <Sports physical therapy> was the most interesting domain (49; 55%) during the first half of the second year. However, during the second half of the fourth year, it followed <Neuromuscular disorders> and <Orthopaedic disorders>, in this order. [Conclusion] The students’ interest in specialized domains tended to shift from <Sports physical therapy> to <Neuromuscular disorders> and <Cardiovascular, pulmonary and metabolic disease> during first half of the third year and the fourth year, respectively.
