Physiotherapy lecturer Andrea Fuente, who teaches the subjects Fundamentals of Physiotherapy (1st), Assessment in Physiotherapy (1st), Basic Health Care (2nd), Kinesitherapy (2nd) and Final Degree Project (4th) at the Bellvitge Campus, has had her research published which originally formed part of her Master’s Final Project on the “Deciding factors in choosing to study a Physiotherapy Degree in Catalonia from the students’ point of view”. The work was carried out in 2018 on a large sample of students (941 first-year students were surveyed from 10 of the 12 university centres that offer this degree in Catalonia, including representatives from the Salt and Terres de l’Ebre campuses of EUSES) this also made it possible to evaluate the differences between French and Spanish students and between men and women.
The research article has been published in the journal Peer J and some of the conclusions were that the most determining factors in the decision to study physiotherapy were: the desire to help others; the relationship of the profession with sport and manual practice; as well as the flexibility of work in terms of the multiple possibilities of job placement.
It was also concluded that women prioritise helping others and interest in science, while for male students the most important reasons were the relationship between physiotherapy and sport, complementing previous studies, as well as social factors (admiration, recommendations, friendship, recognition) and socio-economic factors such as employability or good income.
Compared to Spanish students, French students are more motivated by the relationship with sport, social and socio-economic factors (expectation of good salaries and employment) and some vocational factors, such as a childhood desire or interest in a manual profession.
