Standardized Program for Advancing Clinical Education (S.P.A.C.E.) - Effectiveness of Structured Pre-Clinical Training for Physiotherapy Education

This study evaluates S.P.A.C.E. program (Standardized Program for Advancing Clinical Education), a simulation-based intervention bridging classroom theory with clinical practice for physiotherapy students. It addresses challenges in translating theoretical knowledge into practical skills, alleviating student anxiety through a structured sequence of pre-training, simulated clinical experience with real-time feedback, and post-training reflection. A total of 135 undergraduate students participated the program. They were asked to complete a set of questionnaires before and after the program with items related to their perceived level of self-reported clinical confidence and competency; and specialty-specific knowledge questions. Significant increases in self-reported clinical confidence and competency as well as improvements in case-related knowledge were observed after the program. Regarding the perception of the program's usefulness in preparing them for clinical placement, the mean ratings ranged from 6.50 ± 1.66 to 7.08 ± 1.59, highlighting the S.P.A.C.E. program’s effectiveness in enhancing clinical competency among physiotherapy students. The findings underscore the necessity of a structured training program to prepare students for the clinical environments they will encounter, the clinical educators they will collaborate with, and the diverse patient populations and conditions they will face during clinical placements. However, further research is needed to evaluate how such training impacts students’ actual performance in real-world clinical settings.