Working hard to belong: a qualitative study exploring students from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds experiences of pre-registration physiotherapy education

Abstract

Background Previous research has demonstrated that attainment inequalities exist for students from Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups in pre-registration physiotherapy education. While previous research has explored student from BAME backgrounds experience of university, the context of physiotherapy is unique and is under researched. Therefore the purpose of this study was to explore BAME student experiences during their physiotherapy training. Methods Using a phenomenological approach pre-registration BSc and MSc students from BAME backgrounds from two universities who had completed both academic and clinical modules were invited to participate. Focus groups followed a topic guide developed from the literature and were facilitated by physiotherapy educators from outside the host institution. They were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. Analytical triangulation was adopted throughout the research process as a mechanism to enhance rigour. Results 17 students participated from a range of self-identified BAME backgrounds that were also representative of age, gender and course. Themes derived from the data included: feeling an outsider in reflections of belonging, behaviours by others that marginalise BAME and personal strategies to integrate in physiotherapy despite the lack of power and influence. Collectively these themes demonstrate a range of challenges which students from BAME backgrounds face within both an academic and practice learning environment. Conclusions Studying physiotherapy as a student from BAME background requires persistence to overcome a series of many implicit challenges. Understanding the experiences of students from BAME backgrounds presents unique opportunities to educate the profession and co-create opportunities for a more diverse profession with practitioners and educators as role models. There is a need for greater training for educators to listen to these students’ voices and their stories, understand where inequalities exist, and be willing to challenge entrenched privilege and power in physiotherapy education and practice.

A student‐led qualitative study to explore dental undergraduates' understanding, experiences, and responses to racism in a dental school

“…Topic guided focus groups were piloted on a group of students before the focus groups. The topic guide was developed from a review of the literature and from stories shared by students [28,29]. These stories were used to develop the exploratory hypothetical scenarios in “Introduction” section of the topic guide, presenting four hypothetical scenarios illustrating encounters between students, tutors, and patients.…”

The experiences of black, Asian and minority ethnic student midwives at a UK university

“…We may then suggest that BAME student midwives have an even greater workload than the 'double shift' of registered BAME midwives to contend with. Whilst this 'emotional labour' has been explored in high status professions (Evans & Moore, 2015), with qualified nurses (Cottingham, Johnson & Erickson, 2018), and has been identified in a study on BAME physiotherapy students (Hammond et al 2019), this is an important area for further study within BAME student midwives.…”

“…Greater numbers of BAME students are admitted to post 1992 Universities (Reay, 2018:52) which have clear strategies for widening participation and are traditional hosts for professionally regulated healthcare programmes. Continued disparities in BAME student attainment suggests a need for research into the experiences of this student body as studies remain sparse and located within the fields of medicine, allied health professions, physiotherapy and pharmacy (Morrison et al, 2019;Claridge et al, 2018;Hammond et al, 2019;Seston et al, 2015). Recommendations from the 'Tackling racial harassment in higher education' report (Universities UK, 2020) calls for University leaders to 'engage directly with students and staff with lived experience of racial harassment' yet it is clear there are limited studies exploring this.…”

Editorial

“…The awareness of the learner's journey and associated challenges has led to increased attention being paid to learners' sense of belonging, 1,2 particularly those from minoritized backgrounds. 3 I am excited to see this area of research develop. As an Asian woman who grew up in South Africa under the apartheid regime, belonging is particularly salient to me.…”