Background and Aim of Study. At present, a vast majority of Physiotherapy graduates cannot find a job in the selected profession. Numerous intend to take on employment as a physiotherapist in other countries of the European Union without having extensive knowledge on the local conditions of taking on employment and current situation on local labour market. The aim of the study was to assess the level of knowledge on taking on employment and occupational plans of second year Physiotherapy students of a Master’s degree course of university-level schools of different educational profiles, i.e.: medical universities (PM), universities of physical education (PWF), and other schools (IP).
Materials and Methods. The study enrolled 1942 second year students of a Master’s degree course of 17 university-level schools (PM: 8, PWF: 4, IP: 5). A mean questionnaire return rate was: 53%. Women constituted 77% of the total. The mean age of the study group was 21 years of age (SD=10.64, min.23; max.50). As many as 736 (45%) of the study participants started a Master’s degree course at the same university-level school at which they had graduated from a Bachelor’s degree course. The study was conducted within the International Research Project “The formative effect of the course of physiotherapy studies on the occupational attitudes of students” www.projektfizjoterapia.wum.edu.pl). The approval of the Ethical Review Board of Warsaw Medical University was not necessary to conduct the voluntary and anonymous questionnaire study. Statistical analysis: STATISTICA 10.0 (licensed to Warsaw Medical University), non-parametric statistical tests: Chi-square, Kruskall-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney U, p<0.05.
Results. The majority of students would like to: start a professional activity in Poland after graduation from a Master’s degree course: 55% of PM students, 60% of PWF students, and 59% of IP students; p=NS, start a professional activity abroad: 22% of PM students, 22% of PWF students, and 21% of IP students. Only 11% of the study participants intended to become a specialist in Physiotherapy or commence a PhD course (p=NS). More than 70% of the study population knew the employment opportunities in the area of physiotherapy (p=NS) and approximately 60% of the students believed that it is difficult to find a job as a physiotherapist in Poland (H=6.409, 0.012). More than half of the study population (54%) thought of finding employment abroad. More than 70% of the study group (sic!) did not know the conditions of taking on employment in other countries, 24% of the students found information on this issue on the Internet, and 70% of the total would like to learn about it during a training (48%) or their studies (46%).
Conclusions. 1. Among the study group of students, the educational profile did not influence the level of knowledge on taking on employment as a physiotherapist nor occupational plans. 2. The curricula of Bachelor’s and Master’s degree courses in Physiotherapy, regardless of the educational profile of a university-level school, should contain information on the current situation on labour market as well as information on employment opportunities for physiotherapists and methods of employment search in the European Union. 3. A commonly available, uniform, and professional information system on employment opportunities in the area of physiotherapy in the EU should be developed.
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