Previous knowledge about Physiotherapy and comparison between Spanish and French new-entry students: a population-based observational study in Catalonia

Background and objective: To assess pre-existing knowledge about Physiotherapy and to analyze potential differences between new-entry students from Spain and France. Material and methods: Observational, multicenter, cross-sectional study. Inclusion criteria: age 18 + years and enrolled in first year of a single degree in Physiotherapy. Data was collected via questionnaire and analized by Mann-Whitney and Chi-squared or Fisher tests. Results: The sample consisted of 861 students (460 Spain and 401 France). The most mentioned branches were sports (47.2%), pediatric (37.4%) and general (36.5%). A statistically significant difference was found in the number of branches mentioned, with French students being ahead (0.71 points). Physiotherapy branches such as cardiac, respiratory, sports, geriatric, neurologic, pediatric, emergencies/ICU were mentioned significantly more by the French. Spanish students more frequently mentioned education, osteopathy, preventive, urogynecologic and veterinarian. Healthcare centers were the most cited (93.4%) workplaces, followed by outpatient clinics (61.7%), sports facilities (54.7%) and geriatric settings (33.6%). The Spanish mentioned more places than the French (0.14 points). Sports centers, healthcare settings, social/civic, workplace, places with animals and educational institutions were significantly more cited by Spanish students. French students cited outpatient private clinics and home visits more frequently. Conclusions: French students cited a statistically significant higher number of branches of physiotherapy, while Spanish students cited a greater number of workplaces (close to statistical significance). Workplaces such as private consultations and in-home physiotherapy were mentioned significantly more by the French, and so were branches such as neurology, pediatrics, sports, respiratory or geriatrics.