Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of national examination grade on longitudinal self-directed learning readiness (SDLR) in physical therapy students and the academic performance and SDLR characteristics of those who scored lower on the national examination. Method: The study used a retrospective, longitudinal design. The participants were students at a three-year physical therapy professional training college. Based on the median national examination score, they were classified into two groups. A comparison between the two groups and two-way repeated measures analysis of variance were performed. Results: The national examination low score group (<198 points, n=16) showed significantly lower high school grades and academic performance at this professional training college compared to the high score group (≥198 points, n=19) (p<0.05). A two-way analysis of variance showed a main effect of the national examination on SDLR (p=0.024). In the comparison of SDLR between the two national examination groups, a significant difference was found in the third year (p=0.039). A comparison of the detailed SDLR scale items in the third year between the two groups showed a significant difference in total score and “self-management,” “solving problems systematically,” “learning systematically,” and “want to know the reason” (p<0.05). Conclusion: A clear association between longitudinal SDLR and the national examination in physical therapy students was shown. In addition, the national examination low score group had poorer academic performance and lower scores on some SDLR items than the high score group.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the introduction of Clinical Clerkship teaching on practice supervisors. Methods: Twenty-seven physical therapists who participated in a study session on Clinical Clerkship were included in the study. A questionnaire was provided to the participants addressing their concerns about conducting a new practical training. Subsequently, a similar survey was conducted with 14 participants who supervised the practice, and changes in their concerns about overseeing the practice were examined before and after their supervision. Further, the advantages and disadvantages of the Clinical Clerkship were surveyed in an open-end format. Conclusion: Participants perceived multiple benefits in supervising practical training on Clinical Clerkship and had reduced anxiety about overseeing such sessions. Sufficient preparation and consideration by clinical training facilities and schools are required to ensure smoother clinical training and establish Clinical Clerkship as a standard teaching method in the future.

The skill of motion analysis is very difficult for physical therapy students and educators to learn and teach it, respectively. At the author’s university, we invited graduates as guest speakers for a lecture on motion analysis. The purpose of this study was to analyze the results of a questionnaire conducted between 2016-2019 and discuss their usefulness of these lectures on studying motion analysis. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 169 third-year students, and they were asked to indicate their level of understanding and satisfaction from a list of six items using a visual analogue scale; 1) the skill to “describe the phenomenon” was enhanced, 2) the skill to “think of problems from the phenomenon” was enhanced, 3) the skills to “integrate and interpret problems” was enhanced, 4) the whole lecture was difficult, 5) the whole lecture was enjoyable, and 6) inviting graduates as guest speakers was meaningful. In terms of understanding how to use the clinical thinking process, which was the aim of this study, the scores of items 1 and 2 were good. The results of the correlation analyses showed significant differences: strong correlations were found between items 1 and 2 and 2 and 3, moderate or greater correlations between items 1 and 3 and 4 and 5, and weak to moderate correlation between item 6 and all the items. Based on the results of our study, we conclude that this program should be continued and even modified to increase its value among students.