READINESS INDICATORS OF FUTURE PHYSICAL THERAPIST ASSISTANTS FOR THE “KROK B” INTEGRATED TEST EXAMINATION WITHIN THE PROFESSIONAL TRAINING SYSTEM

Abstract

In 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the procedure for conducting the Unified State Qualification Exam for higher education students at the first (bachelor’s) level. The introduction of the “Krok B” integrated test exam necessitated the provision of pedagogical tools to prepare bachelor’s students for certification. The purpose of this article is to define and substantiate the components of readiness for future physical therapist assistants within the preparation system for successfully passing the “Krok B” integrated test exam. The research methods included the analysis of scientific sources, questionnaires, expert assessment, factor analysis of empirical data, and modeling. To achieve the objective of the study, a survey of experts was conducted–specialists working in the field of therapy and rehabilitation who have pedagogical experience in training specialists in “Physical Therapy.” The processing of the obtained data resulted in identifying the indicators that determine a student’s success in passing the exam. The identified properties were systematized according to their rating into three components: “personal” (indicators: motivation to learn; focus on achieving high-quality results; aspiration for professional development), “professional” (responsibility; ethics; clinical thinking; holistic mastery of the theoretical and practical foundations of physical therapy/rehabilitation), and “psychophysiological” (concentration and attention stability; stress resistance; speed of information acquisition), which account for 55 % of the total sample variance. The conducted factor analysis allowed us to build a technological construct of readiness for physical therapist assistants to successfully completion the “Krok B” integrated test exam. Future research will focus on developing an assessment system for the proposed construct and designing a model for preparing future physical therapist assistants for Bachelor’s degree certification.