Abstract:

Introduction:
Physiotherapy, like other health disciplines, is an autonomous and regulated profession in most countries of the European Union, also in Spain. However, there are other pseudo-health professions that treat patients despite lacking the necessary formal training and certificates. This fact, together with the existence of pseudoscientific therapeutic approaches without scientific evidence, represents a source of confusion between patients and professionals, but also between students, which can represent a decrease in the quality of care practice and a risk for patient safety. The objective of the study was to analyse the prior knowledge and beliefs of first-year students of the Degree in Physiotherapy at two Spanish public universities to identify the identity aspects of the profession associated with greater knowledge gaps, thus allowing them to be addressed in a favourable way during the students’ formation.

Methodology:
Two hundred and forty-five first-year students of the Degree in Physiotherapy from two Spanish public universities participated in this study. In the first session of one of the subjects of the first semester, the students anonymously completed a digital questionnaire designed specifically for this study, which included questions related to professional identity, its scope of application, its therapeutic instruments and its legal and scientific basis. Additionally, potential confounding factors were identified, such as the existence of medical relatives, with the aim of improving the interpretation of the results.

Results:
According to the results obtained through the students' responses, Physiotherapy is clearly identified as a health profession (99.6% of the responses), although the criteria that define health professions are not known by 32.7% of the students. Physiotherapists are distinguished by students compared to other professionals such as massage therapists or osteopaths. However, among some students there are doubts about whether or not other pseudo-healthcare professions are categorised as health disciplines. It is largely considered that Physiotherapy, as a profession, should be guided by scientific evidence. Likewise, there are doubts regarding the competencies and mechanisms of action of some physiotherapy techniques.

Conclusions:
Although physiotherapy students access university training with certain knowledge, there are still some deficiencies regarding the identity knowledge of the profession. These shortcomings are especially related to the competencies of the profession, the differences between Physiotherapy and other pseudo-health professions and the requirements to consider a profession as health. The role of physiotherapy in some areas of application must also be clarified, as well as the differentiation between physiotherapy tools and other pseudoscientific tools frequently used in clinical practice. The introduction of informative content during undergraduate training that allows addressing these deficiencies should be promoted.

Keywords:

Education, knowledge, physiotherapy.