Knowledge of gross human anatomy among Brazilian physical education students: A cross-sectional study

Background: Gross human anatomy is essential in undergraduate programs across biological and health sciences. While extensive literature explores medical students' knowledge in this area, studies on non-medical students, particularly those in physical education, are scarce.

Objective: This study assessed the anatomy knowledge among Brazilian physical education students and explored differences based on employment status, type of class instruction (face-to-face vs. online), and involvement in academic activities. Additionally, we investigated students' perceptions of the assessment instrument and the gross human anatomy course itself.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving physical education students of both sexes, aged 18 and older, from four public Brazilian universities. Participants completed a 15-question multiple-choice survey on human anatomy systems. Correct answers received one point, with a total potential score of 15 points (100%). We categorized scores as excellent (≥ 90%), good (71-89%), sufficient (50-70%), and insufficient (< 50%). Participants had 90minutes to complete the survey. We presented data as median and interquartile range [IQR], median difference (Δ), and 95% confidence intervals. Scores were compared against the median absolute (7.5 points) and relative (50%) values. We used rank-biserial correlation for effect size and set a significance level 0.05. The study included 216 students (143 males) with a median age of 22.4 years [IQR: 4.0].

Results: The final scores were significantly above the cut-offs, with a median absolute score of 9.0 [IQR: 3.0] and a relative score of 60% [IQR: 20%], showing large effects (Δ: +2.0 [1.5-2.0], P<0.001; Δ: +13.33% [10.0-13.34%], P<0.001). There were no significant differences in either the absolute or relative final scores (P≥0.05) between students who participated in academic activities and those who did not, nor between students who attended face-to-face versus online gross human anatomy classes. However, we found a significant difference between non-working students and their employed counterparts, with non-workers scoring higher both absolutely (P=0.002) and relatively (P=0.002) on the gross human anatomy questionnaire. Most of the participants described the difficulty of the gross human anatomy questionnaire as "average" (51.39%, n=111) and rated the gross human anatomy course difficulty as "difficult" (52.8%, n=114).

Conclusion: Brazilian physical education students demonstrated only sufficient knowledge in gross human anatomy (60%). Therefore, strategies to enhance or maintain their knowledge throughout the educational program are vital.