Professional competences of the new graduates from bachelor degree programs of physical therapy in Thailand

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to evaluate and compare the professional competence of the new graduates from three schools (Mahidol, Khon Kaen and Chiangmai University) upon the standard competence, to analyse the relationship between the professional competence and the educational factors in those schools and academic achievement, and to compare the professional competence between the new and 1989 graduates. The standard competence was constructed by reviewing both Thai and Foreign literatures and was agreed by the group of twelve experts in physical therapy. Only “must do” category of skill component of standard competence was included in the questionnaires. Three questionnaires; new graduates, 1989 graduates, and supervisors were developed, checked for content validity by the group of ten experts in profession education and physical therapy, and then pretested by eight 1988 graduates and their supervisors. The internal consistency of the new graduates and the supervisors calculated by using Hoyt’s ANOVA were 0.8683 and 0.7874 respectively. Mailing was the strategy used with most subjects. The three follow-up methods were used to maximize the responses; firstly with postcard reminder, secondly with second questionnaire and finally with telephone contact. The direct access was used with the subjects who worked in the hospitals which were in Bangkok and many subjects were working in. The sampled population included fifty three of new graduates (completed in 1990) and their supervisors, and forty six of 1989 graduates and their supervisors. The final response rates of these four groups were 96.23%, 96.23%, 97.83% and 95.65% respectively. The total available questionnaires were 94.34%, 97.83%, 96.23% and 91.30% respectively. The academic achievement of the new graduates were collected from the students’ records from three schools. The obtained data were analysed by using mean, standard deviation, standard error of the means, proportion, Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA, paired and unpaired t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon signed rank test, and multiple regression. The professional competence were obtained from two sources; self- and supervisors- appraisal. The self- and supervisors- appraisal were agreed on the professional competence of all new graduates. In the cognitive and affective component, the professional competence of all graduates were classified as “fairly high” level in almost all items and in all except two areas; professional ethics and attitude and personal qualities. The professional competence in these two areas were classified in “high” level. In the skill component, there were no graduates who perform without sufficiently safety. Their competence were classified in “perform safety and frequently accurate” in almost all items and in all areas. The data about the professional competence of the new graduates from three schools from the self- and supervisors- appraisal were not the same. The difference of the professional competence among three groups was still questionable. The clinical experience were highly related with the professional competence in the skill component. The “characteristic of clinical instructors outside University” and “the applicability of all clinical practice” were related with the professional competence of the new graduates with more competence items than other variables. The academic achievement were related with the professional competence only in the skill component. The 1989 were more confident than the new graduates but their professional competence were not higher in the actual practice as perceived by their supervisors. The study recommended on the the improvement of the measuring instrument, the development of standard competence and curriculum revision.