“A head start”: a qualitative study exploring experiences of a mainstream priming placement to prepare physiotherapy students for paediatric clinical placement.

Abstract Background Physiotherapy students often feel under-prepared to interact with children on paediatric placements in clinical settings. Within the Doctor of Physiotherapy program at The University of Melbourne, a priming placement in a mainstream early childhood or primary school setting was developed to enable physiotherapy students to interact with children prior to paediatric clinical placements. This study explores the perspectives of physiotherapy students, as well as supervisors from both priming and clinical placements, to determine key learnings and the potential impact of this novel priming experience on preparedness for paediatric clinical practice. Methods A descriptive qualitative study was conducted within the context of a larger action research project. Eleven physiotherapy students were recruited through convenience and snowball sampling, and nine supervisors (from priming and clinical placement settings) through purposive sampling. Data were collected through two focus groups (n = 11) and semi-structured interviews (n = 9), and analysed using inductive content analysis with a collaborative co-coding approach. Results Three main categories were interpreted from the data: 1) Strengthened paediatric competencies; 2) Familiarity with a paediatric work environment; and 3) Enhancing the paediatric priming placement. Category 1) contains three subcategories: a) A deepening understanding of child development, b) Enhanced ability to engage and interact with children, and c) Proactive reflective practice, and Category 3 contains five sub-categories with key suggestions from participants: a) Aligning age-groups across placements, b) Exposure to children with clinical conditions or disabilities, c) Incorporating interactions with parents/ carers, d) Clearer signposting of priming placement objectives, and e) Meeting students at their point of need. Conclusions This study demonstrates that a paediatric priming placement in a mainstream setting supports physiotherapy students to develop skills in communicating and engaging with children, which increases preparedness for placement in clinical settings. Participants identified key benefits and challenges of the priming experience which could be used to enhance both the priming placement, as well as the clinical and university-based paediatric physiotherapy education more generally.