Perceptions by physiotherapy students and faculty staff of a multimedia learning resource for musculoskeletal practical skills teaching

Abstract

The aims of this study were to develop a multimedia DVD for musculoskeletal skills within a School of Physiotherapy, and explore faculty staff and students’ perceptions of its usefulness and effectiveness. Faculty staff were consulted regarding the resource’s content, audio-video clips of manual skills were filmed, and agglomerated in DVD-format. All Year 2 physiotherapy students received a copy of the media. Perceptions of usefulness and effectiveness of the resource were determined with a questionnaire (for students) and focus groups (for faculty staff and students). Quantitative data were analysed with descriptive statistics and the General Inductive Approach was used for qualitative data. Students responded favourably to the DVD with medians from the questionnaire ranging from 1.1 to 1.6 on a Likert Scale (1 most positive, 5 least positive). Qualitative analysis identified four categories: DVD usefulness, learning styles, effects on teaching, and DVD application. While faculty staff did not observe improvements in practical skills during clinical placements, students reported using the DVD primarily for revision purposes and that their confidence for the application of the skills had increased. In general, the DVD was perceived to be useful as an adjunct to traditional laboratory teaching.