Career Choice and Professional Preferences in a Group of Canadian Physiotherapy Students

This article focuses on reasons for the career choice and the longitudinal development of attitudes to healthcare work and the physiotherapy profession. The study is part of a larger project on professional development in physiotherapy. A cohort of 60 Canadian physiotherapy students was surveyed on two occasions during their educational programme. The questionnaire was constructed using a theoretical framework about professional socialization. Forty students completed both versions of the questionnaire yielding a response rate of 67%. Seventy-two per cent were women and 28% were men. Job accessibility or economic (25.5%) were the most frequently indicated reasons for the career choice. The most frequently chosen role models were the preceptors in clinical placements (52%). None of the students indicated having a faculty member as a role model. The desire to work in private practice and with adults was ranked highly in both administrations of the questionnaire. Few students regarded home care and community health as preferable healthcare facilities after graduation. Research, managerial work or occupational health were not given as preferable areas of practice. There advantages were statistically significant differences between women and men in their preferences for private practice work and the public sector of healthcare. The results are discussed in relation to gendered division of labour in healthcare and to the development of the profession.