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Horner S1, Lowe R2, Jackson K2
1Self-Employed, Williamston, United States, 2Physiopedia, London, United Kingdom
Background: The provision of physiotherapy professional education in low income countries is often limited or nonexistent. The educational programs that do exist have reported developmental and resource needs. Open online resources are cost effective methods to assist in meeting needs if evidence supports these types of resources are accessible and useful.
Purpose: This study investigated if providing quality physiotherapy related information in an open, online format is an effective method to support individuals in low income countries who are performing online searches for physiotherapy related topics.
Methods: Data from the International Monetary Fund determined a country´s low income ranking for the year 2017. The Google Analytics platform provided the data and filtering tools. Usage data from Physiopedia, an open physiotherapy related website, was used to determine if individuals in low income countries searching for physiotherapy related topics visited Physiopedia website pages. Five low income countries were selected for this analysis: Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Haiti and Nepal. Analysis quantified the number of page views, the number of new users per year, and the device used to access pages. These three variables were tracked for each country from 2008 through 2018. Qualitatively, the page visits for each country in 2017 was also captured.
Results: All five of the countries demonstrated growth in new users from 2008 through till 2018. When comparing 2016 to 2017, the average growth was 1.15%. The rate of growth varied and did not appear to relate to the country´s income ranking. Access was typically made via a mobile device. When analyzing 2017 data, pages were visited via a mobile device on average 54% of the time. No particular pattern was noted with regard to new visitors and returning visitors. Returning visitors ranged from 0-66% depending on the country. No particular pattern was noted with regard to pages visited when comparing each country's page visits in 2017.
Conclusion(s): Individuals in Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Haiti and Nepal search for online physiotherapy related topics primarily using mobile devices. Based on population data and the estimated number of physiotherapists in each low income country, the growth of new users for low income countries surpasses the estimated number of physiotherapists with permanent residence in the country. The lack of congruence between an estimation of physiotherapists in the country and the analyzed data may represent page visits by other healthcare professionals, physiotherapists volunteering in the country, or individuals in the public realm. The lack of a consistently high return visit percentage seems to indicate that individuals are seeking for a solution to a single physiotherapy related question or topic.
Implications: Individuals in low income regions show continual growth in finding and accessing Physiopedia. Online resources need to be openly available and mobile friendly to maximize their accessibility to individuals in low income contexts. There was not enough depth in this analysis to determine specific physiotherapy topic needs for individuals in low income countries. Further analysis is needed to determine the content needs for individuals in low income contexts searching online for physiotherapy related topics.
Keywords: low income countries, online learning, technology
Funding acknowledgements: None
Purpose: This study investigated if providing quality physiotherapy related information in an open, online format is an effective method to support individuals in low income countries who are performing online searches for physiotherapy related topics.
Methods: Data from the International Monetary Fund determined a country´s low income ranking for the year 2017. The Google Analytics platform provided the data and filtering tools. Usage data from Physiopedia, an open physiotherapy related website, was used to determine if individuals in low income countries searching for physiotherapy related topics visited Physiopedia website pages. Five low income countries were selected for this analysis: Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Haiti and Nepal. Analysis quantified the number of page views, the number of new users per year, and the device used to access pages. These three variables were tracked for each country from 2008 through 2018. Qualitatively, the page visits for each country in 2017 was also captured.
Results: All five of the countries demonstrated growth in new users from 2008 through till 2018. When comparing 2016 to 2017, the average growth was 1.15%. The rate of growth varied and did not appear to relate to the country´s income ranking. Access was typically made via a mobile device. When analyzing 2017 data, pages were visited via a mobile device on average 54% of the time. No particular pattern was noted with regard to new visitors and returning visitors. Returning visitors ranged from 0-66% depending on the country. No particular pattern was noted with regard to pages visited when comparing each country's page visits in 2017.
Conclusion(s): Individuals in Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Haiti and Nepal search for online physiotherapy related topics primarily using mobile devices. Based on population data and the estimated number of physiotherapists in each low income country, the growth of new users for low income countries surpasses the estimated number of physiotherapists with permanent residence in the country. The lack of congruence between an estimation of physiotherapists in the country and the analyzed data may represent page visits by other healthcare professionals, physiotherapists volunteering in the country, or individuals in the public realm. The lack of a consistently high return visit percentage seems to indicate that individuals are seeking for a solution to a single physiotherapy related question or topic.
Implications: Individuals in low income regions show continual growth in finding and accessing Physiopedia. Online resources need to be openly available and mobile friendly to maximize their accessibility to individuals in low income contexts. There was not enough depth in this analysis to determine specific physiotherapy topic needs for individuals in low income countries. Further analysis is needed to determine the content needs for individuals in low income contexts searching online for physiotherapy related topics.
Keywords: low income countries, online learning, technology
Funding acknowledgements: None
Topic: Education; Information management, technology & big data
Ethics approval required: No
Institution: N/A
Ethics committee: N/A
Reason not required: Research involving the collection or study of existing data if it is publicly available or if subjects cannot be identified.
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
