Self-regulatory processed and performance of 2nd year physiotherapy students in a clinical procedure: an exploratory study

Abstract

Background: Students use Self‐Regulated Learning (SRL) to generate feedback about their own learning. Previous findings with SRL Microanalysis (SRL MAT) suggest that students who underperform in specific tasks have poor SRL skills. This exploratory study investigated the usefulness of SRL‐MAT to evaluate the regulatory profiles of physiotherapy students in clinical procedures. Summary of work: A SRL microanalytic protocol was administered to 26 Year 2 physiotherapy students (57% females) performing goniometry on peer students. The SRL‐microanalysis protocol assessed goal setting, metacognitive monitoring, self‐evaluative standards, and satisfaction. A purposive sample represented high and low performers in the task. Sessions were audio‐recorded, transcribed and analyzed qualitatively. Summary of results: There are 15 successful students: 14 are able to set procedures related goals, and monitored their performance. There are 11 unsuccessful students: 5 do not set specific goals beforehand and 6 show no concern with self‐monitoring during performance. Pre‐task self‐efficacy beliefs and satisfaction with performance are higher in successful students. Discussion: This study suggests that physiotherapy student SRL regulatory profiles might condition performance in clinical tasks. Our findings are in accordance with previous studies with medical students. With our SRL microanalytic protocol, we are able to detect differences in self‐regulatory processes throughout the three phases of the SRL cycle. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that providing feedback on self‐regulatory processes to low performing physiotherapy students could benefit their performance in the goniometric task. SRL‐MAT is a potentially useful protocol to generate information about task associates SRL skills. Further research is required to ensure generalizability to further tasks and institutions. Take‐home message: The use of a self‐regulated microanalytic protocol can provide information to the benefit of performance and learning of clinical tasks in physiotherapy students.