ABSTRACT
Background: Physiotherapy plays a significant role in the health care system. The pursuit of career in physiotherapy depends largely on the information available to the students about the practice of physiotherapy Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the level of awareness of physiotherapy profession among secondary school students in Egor Local Government, Benin city, Edo state, Nigeria. Methodology: This cross-sectional study recruited 366 Senior Secondary School class students in selected secondary schools in Egor local government area of Edo state, Benin City, Nigeria. A self-administered questionnaire adapted from similar studies done by Bolarinde et al., 2020 was used to obtain information on level of awareness of physiotherapy. Data were summarized using mean, median, interquartile, Mean deviation, frequency and percentiles. Results: 85.9% of participants were aware of physiotherapy profession. 294(79.5%) of the participants reported that physiotherapy is practiced by doctors and 257(69.5%) also reported that Masseurs are physiotherapists. 259(70.0%) of the respondents were aware of the utilization of gymnasium with exercising machines, and other equipment. 273(73.8%) were aware of a section for manual treatments using bandages, tapes and splints, and 227(61.4%) were aware of the utilization of electrical modalities. 170(45.9%) has also heard about physiotherapy on TV, 165(44.6%) from internet, 116(31.4%) from a teacher, counsellor coach. 27(7.3%) as reported by the respondents were the least source of information about physiotherapy profession. Conclusions: The study's participants showed a high level of physiotherapy awareness though their level of knowledge regarding physiotherapy practice, treatment techniques, and specializations other than orthopedics is inconsistent. Keywords: Physiotherapy, Awareness, Senior Secondary School Students, knowledge.
