What emotions do physical therapy students feel during their first visit to the dissection room?

Dissections are a fundamental practical methodology for teaching human anatomy. However, this expe-rience can be stressful, generating anxiety situations among students. This study tries to understand the attitudes, reactions, fears and anxiety state among students earning a physiotherapy degree when facing their first prosection. A cross-sectional before-and-after study was carried out with students who were provided with an anonymous ad hoc questionnaire and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).The values obtained from the total STAI questionnaire remained stable and unchanged during the prosec-tion (p > 0.05). The levels of trait anxiety (TA) and state anxiety (SA) remained stable except in female students, who showed higher TA and SA scores, with a significance of p < 0.05 before and after the pro-section. Although 100% of the students were satisfied with the dissection practices, the experience can provoke stressful responses and should be addressed using coping mechanisms, especially among female students (c) 2021 Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Automated summary

This study investigated the attitudes and anxiety levels of physiotherapy students when facing their first prosection, finding that female students showed higher levels of trait and state anxiety compared to male students. The study suggests that coping mechanisms should be implemented to address the stressful responses provoked by the dissection experience, especially among female students.