South African podiatry students’ perceptions of feedback given as part of clinical training

BACKGROUND: As part of their clinical training podiatry students spend time in clinical settings treating patients under the supervision of qualified podiatrists. The role and purpose of feedback during such clinical training is to improve students’ knowledge, skills and behaviour. Feedback is an integral part of the learning process that should enhance students’ clinical learning experiences. However, there is no data on podiatry students’ satisfaction or lack thereof about feedback provided during clinical training. The aim of this study was to determine the perceptions of podiatry students on feedback given or received during clinical training. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey design study in which a four-section self-constructed questionnaire was used to collect data from podiatry students in their 2nd to 4th -year of study. Simple descriptive statistics were used to analyse quantitative responses with free text comments yielding qualitative data, which has been used to give more insight into the quantitative findings. RESULTS: Analyses showed that 8% of students were satisfied, 52% were sometimes satisfied and 37% were not satisfied with the feedback. The majority (86%) of students indicated they would prefer to receive feedback in private. Seventy-three percent of students received positive (reinforcing) and negative (corrective) feedback at the same time. CONCLUSION: Students agree that feedback is an essential component of the clinical learning process and appreciate constructive regular feedback whether negative or positive in nature. Additionally, students understand that feedback regardless of its type has the potential to identify areas of development, reinforce good practice and motivate them to work toward their learning outcome expectations. However, there is a need to consider issues such as setting and timing when giving feedback.