Performance in a Neuromusculoskeletal Anatomy Course: Impact of Visual Spatial Abilities, Psychological and Personal Factors
Description
Background: Visual–spatial ability (VSA) is important for learning and performance across healthcare professions and has been associated with anatomy performance, although findings are inconsistent. Anatomy education may also improve VSA. No known study has used predictive modeling to examine VSA and related psychological and personal factors in Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students enrolled in a full-body cadaver dissection anatomy course. This study examined whether VSA, anxiety, depression, resilience, and selected personal factors predicted academic performance and whether VSA and psychological variables changed over the course. Methods: This pre–post educational cohort study used a convenience sample of first-year DPT students enrolled in a 16-week neuromusculoskeletal anatomy course incorporating full-body human cadaver dissection at a single United States university. Participants completed pre- and post-course measures of VSA using the Mental Rotations Test (MRT), anxiety using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale (GAD-7), depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and resilience using the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). Demographic, educational, and personal variables were also collected. Three weeks after the course, participants completed an anatomy-specific visual–spatial examination. Paired t-tests with Holm correction and Cohen’s d were used to assess pre-post changes. Predictors of academic performance were identified using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression with 10-fold cross-validation, followed by multiple linear regression. Results: Thirty-two of 60 eligible students completed all phases of the study. MRT scores increased significantly from 11.72 (SD 4.03) to 15.69 (SD 4.39) (p < 0.001, d = 0.938). PHQ-9 scores also increased significantly from 2.97 (SD 3.05) to 5.72 (SD 5.27) (p = 0.009, d = 0.603), whereas changes in GAD-7 and BRS scores were not significant. The final regression model explained 46.2% of the variance in average exam score (adjusted R² = 0.305; p = 0.023). Higher baseline depressive symptoms and lower baseline anxiety were significant predictors of higher average exam score, whereas baseline MRT score was not independently significant. Conclusions: Among first-year DPT students enrolled in a full-body dissection anatomy course, VSA improved significantly, while depressive symptoms also increased. Academic performance was moderately predicted by a multivariable model in which psychological factors appeared more influential than baseline VSA alone. These findings support a multidimensional view of anatomy success in DPT education.
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This study was a convenience sample of first year Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students from a single US university taking a neuromusculoskeletal anatomy course using full body dissection of human cadavers during their first semester. Participants provided basic demographic information, and information about their experiences with video games, personal history of persistent pain, current pain level, previous experience with human cadavers, time since taking prerequisite anatomy courses, whether they had completed anatomy courses beyond the required prerequisites, their confidence level about their ability to successfully complete the anatomy course and, whether they intended to work a job during the semester and the number of hours they worked during the semester. Similarly participants completed electronic versions of the GAD-7, PHQ-9, and BRS. The MRT Version A was administered as a group to all participants concurrently immediately prior to and following the course. Visual-spatial ability was assessed immediately prior to and following the course, administered as a group to all participants. This was done by using the Version A of the Vandenberg and Kuse Mental Rotation Test (MRT), a validated 24-item measure. Each item presents a target 3D figure and four response options, two of which are rotated versions of the target and two distractors. Participants were instructed to identify the two correct matches for each item. The test was administered in two parts of 12 items each, with a three-minute time limit per section. The total score ranged from 0 to 24, with one point awarded for each pair correctly identified. At the end of the semester, the anatomy course director provided written exam scores and practical exam scores. During the first week of the following semester (3 weeks later), participants completed the visual-spatial specific anatomy exam which lasted approximately 50 minutes. This was administered in a group setting and consisted of 61 questions related to neuromusculoskeletal content representing the entire body. Each slide displayed using Powerpoint in a lecture hall included an anatomical image and a question. Participants were given 45 seconds to respond to each question. For each question, participants rated their confidence in their answers on a scale of 0 “extremely unconfident” and 10 “extremely unconfident.” Percent correct scores were used in the analysis.
Institutions
- Belmont UniversityTN, Nashville