Perceived barriers to evidence-based practice among Physiotherapy students

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the integration of clinical expertise, patient values, and best research evidence into the decision-making process for patient care. Identification of barriers that refutes the use of EBP in day-to-day practice will go a long way in designing programs for inculcating EBP among physiotherapy students. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify perceived barriers to EBP among physiotherapy students. METHODS: A convenience sample of 429 participants were recruited from physiotherapy colleges affiliated to a State Health Science University as per the inclusion criteria. Participants were asked to fill the self-reported questionnaire that was developed by researchers based on possible items from previously developed surveys. Data collected were tabulated and analyzed by descriptive statistics. Response frequencies for the survey questions were determined and displayed in graphical formats. RESULTS: The study comprised of 182 final year students, 112 interns, and 135 postgraduate students having a mean age of 21.29 (0.85), 22.30 (0.77), and 24.34 (1.45) years, respectively. Majority of participants reported insufficient time, poor understanding of statistical analysis, lack of research skills, lack of formal training, lack of access to paid article, poor ability to critically appraise articles, and inadequate infrastructure facilities as barriers towards practicing EBP. CONCLUSION: Physiotherapy students perceived various organizational, training-related, and personal barriers toward the use of EBP. Effective education could prove to be the most powerful tool to overcome these barriers toward the use of EBP.