Assessment of satisfaction level among university teachers of Doctor of physical therapy program on online teaching during COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Background: The recent covid-19 pandemic has also displayed a worldwide increase in online education as a method of learning, at an exponential rate. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the education program of physical therapy abruptly moved from on-campus to remote online medium. Objective: to find out the satisfaction level of the faculty of Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) in twin cities of Pakistan. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on faculty members of various universities having the Doctor of Physical Therapy program students in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A total of n=120 participants between 24 to 60 years were recruited through a nonprobability purposive sampling technique. The research team used the Online Faculty Satisfaction Survey (OFSS) which has a total of 34 questions and was designed to quantify and authenticate the satisfaction of faculty regarding the students, teaching mode as well as the institutions. Questionnaires were distributed through emails and other social media applications i.e. Facebook and WhatsApp. Results: The mean age of participants was 29.4± 6.5 years with 63.3 % females & 36.7% males. The Satisfaction levels were different among the participants. A total of n=66(55%) of participants were less satisfied with the online method of teaching whereas n=42 (35%) shows a higher level of satisfaction. The remaining 10% showed various responses regarding satisfaction level i.e. average n=4 (3.3%), moderately satisfied n=4 (3.3%), neutral n=2 (1.7%), satisfied n=2 (1.7%). Conclusion: This study concluded that the faculty of Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) was less satisfied with online teaching methods due to the lack of face-to-face interaction and practical components of studies. Keywords: COVID-19; education; faculty satisfaction; pandemic; university teacher.