The Attitude of Physical Therapy Students Towards Online Education During COVID-19

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the attitude of physical therapy students toward online education during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). An analytical cross-sectional survey was conducted on 406 physical therapy students after the approval of the institutional review board & ethics committee (IRB&EC) of Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University. Using a non-probability convenient sampling technique, participants were selected from different universities in Pakistan. Physical therapy students of both genders, aged between 18 to 24, were included. The sample size was calculated by Rao software, and responses were collected through a self-structured online survey. Cronbach's alpha was also applied to check the internal consistency of our self-structured questionnaire, which reached acceptable reliability of α = 0.77. The total valid responses were 387. The results show that 65 (16.8 %) were males, and 322 (83.2%) were females. Student satisfaction showed a moderate positive correlation (r= 0.039, p= 0.442) with the student's attitude toward online education. The study concludes that physical therapy students in Pakistan are not satisfied with the online education system introduced due to the current situation of lockdown. It further concluded that the online education system for physical therapy students in Pakistan is not effective.