Academic belonging and department satisfaction among undergraduate physiotherapy students: a cross-sectional study

Academic belonging is an important component of students' educational experience and may be particularly relevant in physiotherapy education, where learning requires theoretical knowledge, practical skills, clinical reasoning, and close interaction with peers and faculty.

This study examined academic belonging among undergraduate physiotherapy and rehabilitation students and evaluated its associations with sociodemographic and educational variables.

This cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate students in the Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation. Data were collected using an online questionnaire including sociodemographic and academic variables, satisfaction with the department and faculty, and the Academic Belonging Scale. Descriptive statistics, group comparisons, Spearman correlation analyses, and hierarchical linear regression analysis were performed.

A total of 469 students participated. The mean Academic Belonging Scale total score was 79.26 ± 17.59. Grade point average (GPA) (rho = 0.164, p < .001), satisfaction with the department (rho = 0.284, p < .001), and satisfaction with the faculty (rho = 0.141, p = .002) were positively correlated with the Academic Belonging Scale total score. In the final hierarchical regression model, only satisfaction with the department remained independently associated with academic belonging (B = 2.20, 95% CI: 1.02 to 3.37, p < .001). The final model explained 10.9% of the variance.

Department satisfaction was the only variable independently associated with academic belonging among undergraduate physiotherapy students after accounting for sociodemographic and academic characteristics, GPA, department choice status, and faculty satisfaction. These findings suggest that students' perceptions of the department-level educational climate may be an important consideration for supporting academic belonging in physiotherapy education.