ABSTRACT
Background: Human anatomy is a foundational subject for physiotherapy education and practice. However, there are concerns about the level of knowledge, attitude and perception physiotherapy students possess towards learning Human anatomy.
Aim: This study aims to investigate the knowledge, attitude and perception of undergraduate physiotherapy students at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) towards learning human anatomy.
Methods: A total of 184 participants, 100 females (54.35%) and 84 males (45.65%) were involved in this study. Socio-demographic characteristics including gender, age, religious beliefs, geopolitical zone of origin of participants were obtained. The Human Anatomy Education Questionnaire (HAEQ) and the Anatomy Attitude Scale (AAS) were used to evaluate knowledge, attitude and perception components. Descriptive statistics of mean, frequency and standard deviation were used to summarise data and IBM-SPSS software and Spearman's correlation were used to analyse data obtained with significance set at p < 0.05.
Results: The minimum and maximum value of the respondents’ answers on the current level of knowledge on anatomy among physiotherapy students ranged from 11.00 to 85.00 with an average mean and standard deviation score of 35.58 ± 12.62. The minimum and maximum value of the respondents’ answers on perception on anatomy among physiotherapy students ranged from 8.00 to 93.00 with an average mean and standard deviation of 55.21 ± 14.51. The minimum and maximum value of the respondents’ answers on Attitude towards learning of anatomy among physiotherapy students ranged from 3.00 to 75.00 with an average mean and standard deviation of 57.00 ± 21.52. The minimum and maximum value of the respondents’ answers on Main challenges on learning anatomy among physiotherapy students ranged from 6.00 to 82.00 with an average mean and standard deviation of 43.51 ± 26.28.
Conclusion: In conclusion, physiotherapy students of the University of Benin have good level of knowledge of human anatomy, a positive attitudes towards the teaching methods employed in their anatomy education and a positive perception.
Keywords:Human Anatomy, Physiotherapy, Undergraduate Students, Knowledge, Attitude, Perception.
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