Kei Ohtsuka

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the relationship between pre-licensure academic performance and self-assessed clinical competence, as measured by the Clinical Competence Evaluation Scale in Physical Therapy (CEPT), among novice physical therapists with up to 1 year of clinical experience after graduation. METHODS: The study participants were 37 graduates of a vocational school who had passed the national physical therapy licensure examination and were employed in healthcare or welfare facilities. Pre-graduation performance data included first-year and second-year academic grades, scores in basic and professional foundational subjects, and Clinical Training III evaluations. Self-assessments after graduation were conducted using the CEPT, which contains 53 items across seven competency categories. Correlational analyses were performed to investigate associations between pre-graduation academic metrics and CEPT scores. RESULTS: There were significant negative correlations between first-year and second-year academic performance, scores in basic professional subjects, advanced professional subjects and the combined scores of basic and advanced professional subjects with CEPT domains related to "Knowledge" and "Decision-making skills." Scores in basic professional subjects were the lowest among all categories and exhibited the strongest negative correlation with self-assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Students with higher levels of academic performance tended to rate themselves lower in early self-assessment after graduation, suggesting a possible lack of confidence in their knowledge or difficulties adapting to the complexities of clinical training. These findings highlight the potential value of integrating metacognitive support and self-assessment training into the physical therapy curriculum to foster practical competence and professional growth.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to capture the lifestyle characteristics of traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients by administering the Frenchay Activities Index (FAI), a self-assessment questionnaire used for assessing life-related activities, among TBI patients. METHODS: This study was conducted using the revised FAI Self-Assessment Form, administering an interview-based questionnaire survey to TBI patients and healthy participants. The target group comprised 60 traumatic brain injury patients who had progressed from at least 1 year since the injury, with a comparison group of 788 healthy participants. RESULTS: A comparison of FAI scores between TBI patients and healthy participants by questionnaire revealed that TBI patients exhibited significantly higher FAI scores than healthy participants for outdoor walking and transportation use (Mann-Whitney U test, P<0.01). A comparison by occupation revealed that TBI patients were significantly less among the unemployed and other categories (Mann-Whitney U test, P<0.01). For office workers, government employees, high school students, and college students, scores were higher among TBI patients compared with healthy participants, although the differences were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Although TBI patients were less active than healthy participants in life-related activities, their scores for cleaning up after meals and cleaning and putting things in order were close to those of healthy participants, indicating that TBI patients cannot be considered to be inactive. The findings also revealed differences in TBI patients' engagement in life-related activities and frequency of activities depending on their social position.