Individual differences and self-regulatory factors are credible determinants of physiotherapy student performance on clinical placement: Insights from a measurement burst design study

Clinical placements are integral to any health professional education program, allowing students to integrate theoretical knowledge and skills acquired in campus-based learning into authentic, real-world healthcare settings. Limited empirical knowledge exists about the determinants of clinical performance. Contemporary thought is that clinical performance is determined by multiple cognitive, environmental, psychological and social factors. Accordingly, we examined which individual differences and self-regulatory factors are credible determinants of undergraduate physiotherapy student performance within clinical placements. Utilising a measurement burst design, we captured weekly self-reported survey data amongst two cohorts (2019 and 2020) of final year, undergraduate students as they progressed through four 5-week physiotherapy clinical placements. In total, 97 of the 181 consenting students met the data inclusion criteria by completing more than three surveys in a minimum of two clinical placements. For these students, we collated their clinical placement results and utilised multilevel structural equation modelling to examine intra-individual dynamics of diverse psychosocial factors and their association with clinical performance data. Study findings supported stable individual differences, contextual experiences, and self-regulatory factors as meaningful determinants of physiotherapy entry-level performance. Knowledge of salient psychosocial determinants associated with clinical performance can inform curriculum design. Doing so includes practical strategies for early identification of students who may struggle in clinical placement settings, and ways to foster salient student skills and abilities before and during placements to optimise clinical placement performance outcomes.