Aird L1, Hills N1, Lowe R1, Lowe T1, Mohana M1
1Physiopedia, London, United Kingdom
Background: An evidence-based approach is recognized as a valued component of physiotherapy practice. However, it is less clear if this positive attitude translates to the implementation of research into clinical decision making, and if physiotherapists from around the globe have the knowledge, skills and resources to do so. To our knowledge, no literature exists investigating how physiotherapists from across the world access new research evidence and how they incorporate this research into clinical practice.
Purpose: To describe the current practices, knowledge and access physiotherapists have to current research globally.
Methods: Physiotherapists were recruited through a global online platform, a related email list and through social media to participate in a Web-based survey. The survey contained 48 items in four domains: demographics and education, current access to research, practices in finding research, and how physiotherapists use and implement research in their clinical practices. A descriptive analysis was completed for all response variables.
Results: A total of 370 physiotherapists from 71 countries with a range of years of clinical experience (student (n=102), 1-5 years (n=131), 6-10 years (n=53), 11-15 years (n=24), > 15 years (n=155)) participated. The majority of respondents (96%) believed that keeping current with the latest research was important, yet only 41% reported accessing this information easily. Reading online journal publications was rated as the preferred method of accessing research (42%), whereas, conferences (4%) and printed publications (3%) were much less preferred. 51% of respondents reported not having access to full-text research articles.
When using research, 65% of respondents were confident in their ability to critically appraise the quality of a scientific paper, yet, 55% reported merely scanning the abstracts for critical points and just 30% expressed a good understanding of statistical analysis.
When asked about incorporating research findings into clinical decision making, respondents indicated they have sufficient knowledge (66%) and time (60%) to do so. However, 48% don't spend time critiquing the quality and 27% have not applied research findings to clinical decision-making after critical appraisal in the past month.
The respondents of this survey indicated they would like training on finding (79%) and critical appraisal of research evidence (78%). In addition, respondents were interested in many different knowledge translation activities to help improve their usage of research; the top three being: improved access to full-text journal articles (91%), evidence-based training on specific pathologies (91%) and short blog articles critically appraising key new research (85%).
Conclusion(s): Physiotherapists from across the globe believe that research evidence is important, but there is also a desire for improved access to resources and the skills needed to interpret it. Online resources appear important to physiotherapists, but their use can be limited by full-text availability and time to critique the quality of the research. Future work should investigate how researchers are currently disseminating their work to physiotherapists.
Implications: As the volume and online availability of resources continues to increase, understanding how physiotherapists currently access and use research, and their preferences for knowledge translation activities may inform future efforts to support evidence-based practice in Physiotherapists globally.
Keywords: Global, Evidence-based practice, Online
Funding acknowledgements: No funding received
Purpose: To describe the current practices, knowledge and access physiotherapists have to current research globally.
Methods: Physiotherapists were recruited through a global online platform, a related email list and through social media to participate in a Web-based survey. The survey contained 48 items in four domains: demographics and education, current access to research, practices in finding research, and how physiotherapists use and implement research in their clinical practices. A descriptive analysis was completed for all response variables.
Results: A total of 370 physiotherapists from 71 countries with a range of years of clinical experience (student (n=102), 1-5 years (n=131), 6-10 years (n=53), 11-15 years (n=24), > 15 years (n=155)) participated. The majority of respondents (96%) believed that keeping current with the latest research was important, yet only 41% reported accessing this information easily. Reading online journal publications was rated as the preferred method of accessing research (42%), whereas, conferences (4%) and printed publications (3%) were much less preferred. 51% of respondents reported not having access to full-text research articles.
When using research, 65% of respondents were confident in their ability to critically appraise the quality of a scientific paper, yet, 55% reported merely scanning the abstracts for critical points and just 30% expressed a good understanding of statistical analysis.
When asked about incorporating research findings into clinical decision making, respondents indicated they have sufficient knowledge (66%) and time (60%) to do so. However, 48% don't spend time critiquing the quality and 27% have not applied research findings to clinical decision-making after critical appraisal in the past month.
The respondents of this survey indicated they would like training on finding (79%) and critical appraisal of research evidence (78%). In addition, respondents were interested in many different knowledge translation activities to help improve their usage of research; the top three being: improved access to full-text journal articles (91%), evidence-based training on specific pathologies (91%) and short blog articles critically appraising key new research (85%).
Conclusion(s): Physiotherapists from across the globe believe that research evidence is important, but there is also a desire for improved access to resources and the skills needed to interpret it. Online resources appear important to physiotherapists, but their use can be limited by full-text availability and time to critique the quality of the research. Future work should investigate how researchers are currently disseminating their work to physiotherapists.
Implications: As the volume and online availability of resources continues to increase, understanding how physiotherapists currently access and use research, and their preferences for knowledge translation activities may inform future efforts to support evidence-based practice in Physiotherapists globally.
Keywords: Global, Evidence-based practice, Online
Funding acknowledgements: No funding received
Topic: Education: methods of teaching & learning; Professional issues; Education: methods of teaching & learning
Ethics approval required: No
Institution: NA
Ethics committee: NA
Reason not required: No ethics committee approval was sought as this project did not contain research on humans. However all participants in the survey were provided with information on how the results would be used prior to participating, and were able to opt out of having their anonymised results included in the study.
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
