An analysis of the epistemic orientation of first- and third-year students in a physiotherapy program

Previous research has demonstrated that practitioners within the same profession share a common approach to knowledge acquisition and transmission. A search for the identification of this common approach to knowledge in physiotherapy was undertaken using the Epistemic Orientation Model. The research reported was premised on the assumption that students admitted to physiotherapy programs in Canada possess an epistemic orientation that is similar to the epistemological structure of the knowledge base considered important to the program. Using a standardized instrument known as the Knowledge Accessing Modes Inventory (KAMI) to measure epistemic orientation, data were collected from a sample (N = 59) of first- and third-year students registered in a physiotherapy program in a central Canadian university. The data indicated that a high degree of association exists between the epistemological structure subsumed in the knowledge base deemed essential to gain admission to the program and the dominant rational epistemic mode of the practitioners-to-be. Based on the results, the article examines the usefulness of the epistemic orientation concept on activities within the profession. Implications for professional development are noted and avenues for further research are suggested.