Analysis of Determining Factors in Making the Decision to Become a Professionally Trained Physical Therapist in North-Eastern Romania

Abstract

The provision of alternatives when making a decision, their evaluation, and the selection of the best one represent stages of the actual decision-making process. These stages are influenced by the effects determined by certain more or less objective factors. The decision to act belongs directly to the person, based on the analysis of the influence of these factors, but also of the "convenient" or "prioritary" solutions.
This research aimed to analyze the importance of certain factors that have influenced the decision of 186 candidates who chose to be trained professionally as physical therapists at the universities in North-Eastern Romania (Bacău, Suceava, Iaşi), during the main admissions in the summer of 2016. The subjects were inquired using a 12-item questionnaire before the admission examination, their involvement being voluntary.
In regards to the important factors, the statistical analysis has shown average values many times above the values of other analyzed factors. One can conclude that in North-Eastern Romania, for the candidates for the main admissions of 2016, the determining factors in making the decision to train as physical therapists were, mainly: living near the university, the attraction of a successful profession with future perspectives, the good name of the study program or of the university, and the advice of their friends and family.