College of Applied Medical Sciences, Health Rehabilitation Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Department, Prince Sattam Bin Abdul-Aziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
BMC Med Educ. 2018 Oct 3;18(1):228. doi: 10.1186/s12909-018-1329-5.
Pain is a leading cause of disability and accounts for many hospital and physical therapy visits. Current pain science understanding has evolved and changed substantially in the past 20 years; however, university health science curricula may not have progressed at the same rate. This study aimed to examine knowledge about pain neurophysiology among physical therapy students in Saudi Arabia, and to compare their knowledge across different education levels and by gender.
A cross-sectional study conducted to examine the pain neurophysiology knowledge among college physical therapy students in Saudi Arabia. The Revised Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire (12 items) was used. Descriptive statistics including frequencies and percentages were used to describe the sample. Analysis of variance and t-test were also used to examine the significant differences between scores.
Physical therapy students (n = 202) from 18 different universities in Saudi Arabia participated in this study. The mean score of the participants on the questionnaire was 6.20 ± 2.07 (i.e., 52% ± 17%) and there was no significance difference between males and females. There was a statistically significant incremental increase in total score through the educational process (P < 0.05); however, this increase was very small comparing early- and final educational-level students (8% in RNPQ).
While final year physical therapy students showed higher levels of pain science knowledge than those at the beginning of their course, the magnitude of the difference was small and likely of little meaningful relevance. This may reflect the need for more emphasis on pain science in the physical therapy curriculum in Saudi Arabia.
疼痛是导致残疾的主要原因，也是许多人前往医院和接受物理治疗的原因。在过去的 20 年中，当前的疼痛科学理解已经有了很大的发展和变化；然而，大学健康科学课程的进展可能并没有跟上同样的步伐。本研究旨在检查沙特阿拉伯物理治疗专业学生对疼痛神经生理学的知识，并比较他们在不同教育水平和性别之间的知识。
本研究采用横断面研究方法，检查沙特阿拉伯大学物理治疗专业学生的疼痛神经生理学知识。使用修订后的疼痛神经生理学问卷（12 个项目）。描述性统计包括频率和百分比，用于描述样本。还使用方差分析和 t 检验来检查分数之间的显著差异。
沙特阿拉伯 18 所不同大学的物理治疗专业学生（n=202）参加了这项研究。参与者在问卷上的平均得分为 6.20±2.07（即 52%±17%），男女之间没有显著差异。在教育过程中，总分呈统计学上显著递增（P<0.05）；然而，与早期和最终教育水平的学生相比，这种增加非常小（RNPQ 中增加了 8%）。
尽管最后一年的物理治疗专业学生比他们在课程开始时表现出更高水平的疼痛科学知识，但差异的幅度很小，可能没有实际意义。这可能反映出需要在沙特阿拉伯的物理治疗课程中更加重视疼痛科学。
