THE EFFECT OF PANDEMIC COURSE ON PHYSIOTHERAPISTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS PATIENTS WITH COVID-19: COMPARISON OF 2020 AND 2021 GRADUATES

Abstract

Aim: COVID-19 pandemic course has changed a lot since its beginning thanks to the increased knowledge and experience about the virus and widespread vaccination. It is unknown whether all these changes affect physiotherapists' attitudes toward patients with COVID-19. This study aims to evaluate the approach of physiotherapists who graduated in 2021 and compare their results with the results of physiotherapists who graduated in 2020 that have been obtained for our previous study. Methods: Physiotherapists who graduated from x University in 2021 were invited to the study. Participants were sent a 7-item questionnaire assessing their approach to COVID-19 via Google Forms. The distribution of responses (%) of physiotherapists who graduated in 2021 to each item was compared with those from 2020 graduates recorded in our previous study. Results: In the research conducted in 2020, 56 graduate physiotherapists answered the questionnaire. 65 of the physiotherapists who graduated in 2021 answered the questionnaire. The groups were similar in terms of age and gender (p>0,05). There was no significant difference between the two graduation years in terms of the distribution of responses given to each item (p>0,05). Conclusion: This study showed no significant difference in the approaches of physiotherapists who graduated two years in a row during the pandemic process against COVID-19. The dramatic increase in knowledge, experience, and prevention methods about the disease did not make any sense in the attitudes of physiotherapists. Uncertain new variants of the virus, multiple systemic involvement, and long-term complications are thought to have affected this outcome.