Sense of difficulty in work of university faculty members engaged in courses pertaining to physical and occupational therapists’ training

<p>OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the difficulties experienced by university faculty in training physical therapist (PT) and occupational therapist (OT), and provide a basis for reducing faculty members’ workload. METHODS: A qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews with six university faculty members of a private university recruited through snowball sampling, was conducted from January to June 2021. RESULTS: A total of 329 narratives, 28 subcategories, and 8 categories (coping with learning, coping with national examinations, coping with clinical practice, securing time for research, lack of basic academic skills and disposition of students, university environment, thoughts as a teacher, and other duties) were extracted from the university faculty narratives. The most common subcategory was “Lack of basic academic skills in students.” CONCLUSION: Our findings confirmed that faculty members experience a sense of difficulty in dealing with national examinations and clinical practice as part of their education for professional training. Students' lack of basic academic skills seemed to be a major factor behind the situation. Thus, PT and OT university faculty members expressed difficulties in coping with students' lack of basic academic skills, and dealing with national examinations and clinical practice.</p>