Satisfaction Level and Performance of Physiotherapy Students in the Knowledge of Musculoskeletal Disorders through Nearpod: Preliminary Reports

Abstract

Physiotherapists are at high risk for musculoskeletal disorders. There is a need in academia to address workers’ health issues at the time of graduation. Nearpod is an educational application founded on a web-based learning tool. In the field of Health Sciences, the use of Nearpod has been scarce. The objective of this study was to determine the level of satisfaction with using this interactive tool and to assess the influence of using Nearpod in class on students’ performance while dealing with the topic of musculoskeletal disorders in third-year Degree in Physiotherapy students during the 2021–2022 academic year. The participants were students at the University of Cadiz. They were randomly divided into two groups, a control group using a PowerPoint presentation and an experimental group using the interactive Nearpod application. The experimental group took two surveys to determine their satisfaction with the method used. Students also took a multiple-choice test to assess the knowledge acquired. In the surveys, a high percentage of satisfaction was obtained (97.62% and 99.39%). There were no significant differences in the scores obtained by the two groups, although there were significant differences in response time in favor of the experimental group (p = 0.022). Although studies should be carried out with larger samples and on different subjects, it seems that Nearpod is a tool with great potential for teaching the study of musculoskeletal disorders.