| Abstrakt: |
Although there has been growing interest in problem-based learning (PBL) by professional entry-level therapy educators, its effectiveness is as yet unclear. Existing overviews of the field do not provide high-quality evidence in terms of the effectiveness or otherwise of PBL in professional therapy education. The purposes of this article is to systematically review the current literature on PBL and determine its effectiveness when compared to other didactic approaches in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech-language therapy, dietetics, podiatry, orthoptics, and therapeutic radiography entry-level education. Eight databases were searched for controlled evaluation studies investigating the effectiveness of PBL in the seven therapy professions. Four competencies were analyzed: students' knowledge, performance, approaches to learning, and satisfaction. Data were extracted and risk of bias assessed by independent reviewers. One scoring system was used to assess the quality of the studies and another to determine the level of evidence for each competency. The search yielded 3885 articles, of which six met the inclusion criteria after fulltext review; three in physiotherapy and one each in occupational therapy, dietetics, and podiatry. Three of the six studies were categorized as high quality. No study measured all four competencies. When compared to other didactic approaches, there is no evidence that PBL has a more positive effect on students' knowledge, performance, and satisfaction levels and limited evidence that it improves students' approaches to learning. Currently available literature revealed no convincing evidence that PBL is more effective than traditional didactic education for entry-level therapy professions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
