Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Perception of educational environment as a predictor of academic performance in physiotherapy students

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Manasi Desai 1
. Unnati Pandit 2
. Amruta Nerurkar 3
. Chhaya Verma 4

1 PhD Scholar, Department of Neurophysiotherapy, D. Y. Patil School of Physiotherapy, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

2 Professor and Director, Department of Physiotherapy in Community Health, DY Patil School of Physiotherapy, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

3 Associate Professor, Head of Department of Neurophysiotherapy, DY Patil School of Physiotherapy, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

4 Professor and Head, Department of Physiotherapy, T.N. Medical College and B.Y.L. Nair Charitable Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Students’ perception of their academic environment has a substantial influence
on their actions, academic accomplishments, satisfaction, goal attainment, and behavior. The study
was carried out to evaluate the perception of academic environment in physiotherapy students, and
to identify the specific domains which could act as predictors of academic performance.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive, cross-sectional research was conducted
over 12 months using total population sampling. Three hundred and forty-three (139 postgraduate
and 204 final year) final year and postgraduate physiotherapy students from five colleges of
Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, who conformed to the inclusion benchmarks, participated in the study.
Perception of educational environment was evaluated using Dundee Ready Education Environment
Measure (DREEM). Academic performance was evaluated using the percentage obtained in the
last university examination. Data were entered in MS Excel (©Microsoft, USA) and converted to
Stata Version 15.1© StataCorp, College Station, for further analysis. The mean values and standard
deviations for perception of educational environment were calculated and linear regression models
were used to conduct multivariate analysis for each item in the questionnaire.
RESULTS: The mean total DREEM score of physiotherapy students was 129.97 ± 22.72. Students
whose Students’ Academic Self‑perception scores were in the “Feeling more on the positive side”
category showed a 4.17 point increase in percentage scores as compared with those who reported
feeling like a total failure/had many negative aspects to their academic self‑perception (95% confidence
interval [CI]: 2.46, 5.89; P < 0.001). Students whose Students’ Perception of Learning (SPoL) scores
were in the “Teaching highly thought of” category showed a 2.75 point increase in percentage scores
as compared with those who viewed teaching poorly/negatively (95% CI: 0.44, 5.06; P = 0.02).
CONCLUSION: Physiotherapy students had a “more positive than negative” view of the academic
environment; however, a few “problematic areas” need to be remediated. Efforts to improve students’
academic self-perception may improve their academic performance since this was the strongest
predictor of their academic performance, followed by total DREEM scores and SPoL.

Keywords

Academic performance
goals
learning
perception
self‑concept
students
universities
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 12, Issue 5
June 2022
Pages 1-7

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