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The Effect of Digital-Based Simulation on Physiotherapy Students

The Effect of Digital-Based Simulation Education on Self-Efficacy and Clinical Reasoning Skills in Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Students

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05863650
Enrollment
60
Registered
2023-05-18
Start date
2024-10-11
Completion date
2024-12-02
Last updated
2025-07-28

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Self-efficacy, Clinical Reasoning

Keywords

Digital based simulation, Face to face education, Physiotherapy and rehabilitation students

Brief summary

In physiotherapy and rehabilitation education, basic medical courses, clinical information, rehabilitation approaches, special teachings of the profession, clinical problem solving and analysis in their fields are taught during university education. Musculoskeletal problems will be selected for the patient scenarios to be used in the simulation and algorithms will be arranged for the simulation. After the algorithms are created, a website with patient scenarios containing these algorithms will be established with the support of a software company. In addition to the website, a database will be created and the applications made on the site will be recorded. In our study, stepped wedge design will be used. 100 volunteer students participating in the study will start face-to-face training after preliminary evaluations are made. Afterwards, every two weeks, a randomized group of 20 people will be included in the hybrid training, which includes both face-to-face and simulation training. In the face-to-face education group, the educational content prepared in parallel with the patient scenarios in the hybrid education group will be applied in the classroom environment by the students together with the educators themselves. In the hybrid training group, one case analysis will be done every week on the website designed under the supervision of researchers, and one case analysis will be done through face-to-face training. The self-efficacy and clinical reasoning levels of the students included in the study will be evaluated with the Physiotherapist Self-Efficacy Questionnaire and the Clinical Reasoning Assessment Tool. The same evaluations will be repeated after the students in both groups have completed their 10-week education. Afterwards, students' satisfaction levels and suggestions from the simulation will be evaluated with qualitative questions, and opinions and suggestions about simulation will be collected by creating themes.

Detailed description

Clinical reasoning is one of the most fundamental skills in health professions education and is essential for engaging in clinical practice. In many studies, it is stated that the learning of the clinical reasoning process in undergraduate students should be included in the curricula and learning objectives. Self-efficacy is a concept that is effective in shaping one's behavior. Academic self-efficacy is the individual's belief in himself about how successful he will be in the face of the academic tasks he will face throughout his academic life and at what level he can fulfill these tasks. In recent years, digital learning designs have been increasingly used in teaching practices in higher education. Various designs offer opportunities to improve self-regulation abilities, facilitate active learning, and make the learning process more transparent. It covers a variety of technologies such as digital learning designs, virtual reality, podcasts, apps, educational games, 360° video and animations. These technologies can be applied directly in learning activities or combined with other planned learning activities. In studies, digital learning designs in physiotherapy education have been criticized because they are not based on a theoretical learning perspective. A systematic review on the role of computer-assisted learning in physiotherapy education concluded that it has been substantially less researched compared to other health professions education.

Interventions

DEVICEDigital based simulation

Algorithms will be created for various musculoskeletal diseases and these algorithms will be controlled by taking the opinions of physiotherapists and physicians who are experts in their fields. After the algorithms are created, a website with patient scenarios containing these algorithms will be established with the support of a software company. In addition to the website, a database will be created and the applications made on the site will be recorded. In this way, the data of users using the website will be collected.

In the face-to-face education group, one case analyzes will be applied by the students together with the educators themselves in the classroom environment, with the educational content prepared in parallel with the patient scenarios in the simulation-based education group.

Sponsors

Health Institutes of Turkey
CollaboratorOTHER_GOV
Marmara University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Intervention model description

Stepped wedge design

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 25 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Being an undergraduate student at Marmara University Faculty of Health Sciences Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Department * Having agreed to participate in the study * Being in the 6th semester of their studies

Exclusion criteria

* Refusing to participate in the study

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Self-efficacy will be measured using a Turkish version of Physiotherapist Self-Efficacy Questionnaire-musculoskeletal area.6 weeksThe questionnaire consists of 13 items. The participants will asked to indicate their confidence to perform the described task (1 = very little confidence; 5 = a lot of confidence). Higher scores are related more confidence self-efficacy. Outcomes will be evaluated before and after the intervention.
The 'Clinical Reasoning Assesment Tool (CRAT)' will be used in clinical reasoning assessment.6 weeksThe CRAT, a rubric scale, is scored by the evaluator marking on the Visual Analog Scale. CRAT aims to assess students' readiness to enter the clinical setting and facilitate student self-monitoring. The tool aims to actively participate in the student's development by identifying strong or weak areas in three areas (content knowledge - procedural knowledge and psychomotor skill - conceptual reasoning). Outcomes will be evaluated before and after the intervention.

Countries

Turkey (Türkiye)

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026