DEVELOPING A TRANSFORMATIVE PRAXIS-BASED CURRICULUM TO EDUCATE PHYSICAL THERAPY STUDENTS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: A PHILIPPINE QUALITATIVE CASE STUDY

Y. Palad¹, P. Armsby², A. Qualter²

¹College of Allied Medical Professions, University of the Philippines Manila, Department of Physical Therapy, Manila, Philippines, ²School of Histories, Languages & Culture, University of Liverpool, Centre for Higher Education Studies, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Background: Social responsibility in physical therapy is an increasingly important professional behavior as it encourages better engagement with social issues in health. It requires an expansion of ethical and practice framework to work with the larger community in ensuring universal access to physical therapy. Academic institutions are therefore called upon to strengthen their transformative role in developing more socially responsible graduates.

Purpose: Study objectives were to explore faculty perspectives on educating physical therapy students for social responsibility and to identify strategies for improvement.

Methods: A participatory approach guided the methods to encourage collaborative creation of practical knowledge. Six physical therapy educators from a Philippine university with distinct social responsibility mandates were purposively invited to participate based on their key involvements in various aspects of educating for social responsibility. Participant perspectives were gathered through focus group discussions, which were informed by research on social responsibility in Philippine physical therapy. Discussions were transcribed, translated to English, then subjected to thematic analysis.

Results: Three themes highlighted main areas for practice improvement: 1) strengthening curricular focus on social responsibility through a whole-of-curriculum approach in incorporating cognitive learning on social responsibility and praxis (reflection and action); 2) maximizing institutional programs by helping students recognize them as further opportunities for developing social responsibility; and 3) ensuring faculty capability to educate for social responsibility.

Conclusions: Results suggest developing a transformative praxis-based curriculum to educate for social responsibility. This involves fostering students’ knowledge on social responsibility and critical consciousness through real-world reflection and action on social issues affecting physical therapy access. This study also encourages looking into the influence of institutional structures on students’ transformation and the support needed by educators to enable students to respond to the needs of the society they serve.

Implications: Educating for social responsibility implies systemic changes in educational culture and perspectives to integrate social responsibility widely into students’ academic experience and ensure social responsibility development. This study enjoins physical therapy educators to analyze and act on the transformative purpose of their curricula to ensure a strong social responsibility agenda in their physical therapy programs.

Funding acknowledgements: A doctoral fellowship grant from the University of the Philippines Faculty, REPS, and Administrative Staff Development Program supported this work.

Keywords:
Critical consciousness
Professional ethics
Reflection

Topics:
Education
Professionalism & ethics
Professional issues

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: University of the Philippines Manila

Committee: University of the Philippines Manila Research Ethics Board

Ethics number: UPMREB 2020-411-01