Supporting Physiotherapy graduates in Pediatric Physiotherapy, Mentor Role

Background: This research attempts to determine the needs of the physiotherapy graduates and the needs emerge when they start their career as professionals. Furthermore, the importance of the creation of a supporting program is being investigated, which will assist graduates and specially those who are interested in working in the field of pediatric physiotherapy. The program will provide solutions to graduates for practicalpsychological issues, which might arise in the first steps of their career and will provide solid guidance and incident handling. Material and methods:92 physiotherapists participated in the study. Those are employed in private physiotherapy centers, public hospitals, school for special needs, recovery centershome-based therapy in Thessaloniki area. The data was collected by using questionnaires during the months of October 2018 to January 2019. Results:Descriptive analysis and exploratory factoring methods were applied for the statistical processing, which resulted in the conclusion that there is a need to support and guide the new physiotherapy graduates, so that they can integrate smoothly into their new professional life and have a successful career. The views of physiotherapists are not affected by their various demographic characteristics. Conclusions: It is necessary to guide the new physiotherapy graduates in general and more particularly in pediatric physiotherapy, through a tutor-based supporting program. keywords : Pediatric Physiotherapy, Tutor-based Supporting program, Mentor