Competence Development in an Undergraduate Physiotherapy Internship Program during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Blended Learning Approach

Beatriz Ruiz-Ruiz (), María García-Arrabé, Rebeca del Prado-Álvarez, Alberto Bermejo-Franco, Raquel Diaz-Meco Conde, Laura González-Fernández and Arian Ramón Aladro-Gonzalvo
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Beatriz Ruiz-Ruiz: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, 28670 Madrid, Spain
María García-Arrabé: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Rebeca del Prado-Álvarez: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Alberto Bermejo-Franco: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Raquel Diaz-Meco Conde: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Laura González-Fernández: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Arian Ramón Aladro-Gonzalvo: Faculty of Heatlh Sciences, Universidad Europea de Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-11

Abstract: Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the creation of different teaching adaptations shared in health degrees, such as blended teaching methods, including face-to-face learning combined with online learning. Objectives: One objective was to compare the academic performance scores aligned to worked competencies during physiotherapy internships between two groups: one exposed to a blended learning (b-learning) educational model and another exposed to a face-to-face teaching system during internships. Another objective was to study the correlation of the marks of the following year’s internship subject. Design: Analytical study of retrospective cohorts. Settings: Physiotherapy university degree program. Participants: Three hundred students working towards attaining Physiotherapy degrees. Methods: Two groups were studied: the Non-Exposed Cohort, which had 100% face-to-face attendance at the clinical center, and the Exposed Cohort, which experienced b-learning and had 50% attendance at the clinical practice center and 50% completion of asynchronous online complementary training during lockdown. Results: The results show that both in the Exposed Cohort and in the Non-Exposed Cohort, the qualifications and, therefore, the competence development achieved by the students were similar. A stronger correlation with skills activities developed in the Exposed Cohort in relation to the final mark of the following year’s internship subject has been found. Discussion and Conclusions: For all the competencies developed during CS II, participants obtained the same grades in both groups, so it is concluded that the online activities implemented during confinement mixed with face-to-face teaching were useful for the achievement of these skills. Thus, b-learning is a good method for developing clinical practice competencies in physiotherapy students. Contribution of the Paper: Blended teaching (b-teaching) is useful for developing internship competencies. It is necessary to align the activities developed in internships with the evaluated skills.

Keywords: internship; physiotherapy student; university; COVID-19 pandemic; b-learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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