scholarly journals Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Assess the Effect of Online Learning on Behaviors, Attitudes, and Clinical Practices of Physical Therapists in the United States Regarding Evidenced-based Clinical Practice

Author(s):  
Olaide Sangoseni ◽  
Madeleine Hellman ◽  
Cheryl Hill

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the face and content validity of a modified self-report questionnaire adapted from previous studies’ questionnaires. The modified questionnaire will be used in a later study to assess the effect of online learning on behaviors, attitudes, and clinical practices of physical therapists in the United States regarding evidence-based clinical practice. Methods: An expert panel of nine physical therapists in the field of evidence-based practice reviewed and rated the modified instrument for the relevance and representativeness of each item based on a dichotomous rating of favorable or unfavorable. Their ratings were used to calculate the content validity index values of each final item. Items with content validity index (CVI) greater than 0.78 were included in the final instrument. Results: The final instrument contained 23 Likert-type scale multiple choice questions and 13 dichotomous “yes” or “no” response options, and 13 are ranked response options categorized under eight thematic domains designed to address the effect of internet use and online information resource use on evidence-based practice among physical therapists in the United States. Demographic and practice data were also collected. Conclusion: The preliminary findings support the face and content validity of this 59-item questionnaire pending further validation for construct and criterion validity.

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Wims ◽  
Shayla M. McIntyre ◽  
Ann York ◽  
Laura G. Covill

Abstract How physical therapists (PTs) in the United States currently use yoga in their clinical practices is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine how PTs in the United States view yoga as a physical therapy (PT) tool and how PTs use yoga therapeutically. The authors conducted a 24-item survey via electronic communications of the Geriatric, Orthopedic, Pediatric, and Women's Health Sections of the American Physical Therapy Association. Participants (n = 333) from 47 states and the District of Columbia replied. Reported use of therapeutic yoga among participants was high (70.6%). Of those participants, nearly a third use asana and pranayama only. Most participants using therapeutic yoga also include additional mindfulness-related elements such as sensory awareness, concentration/focus, and/or meditation. Most participants learned about yoga through personal experiences, with many participants citing lack of familiarity in using yoga in PT practice. Safety is the primary concern of participants when recommending yoga to patients as an independent health and wellness activity. Interdisciplinary communication between PTs, yoga therapists, and yoga teachers is warranted to address the post-discharge needs of clients. Healthcare changes have required PTs to adapt to a biopsychosocial-spiritual model (BPSS) for improved patient outcomes. Therapeutic yoga may provide an opportunity for PTs to expand their role in health and wellness and chronic disease management. There is opportunity for continuing education in therapeutic yoga for PTs.


Author(s):  
Charley E. Willison

Homelessness is a public health problem. Millions of Americans experience homelessness each year, more than the number of Americans that suffer from opioid use disorders annually. Homelessness is associated with increased mortality and adverse physical and mental health outcomes. Longer durations of homelessness are associated with the higher mortality rates, severe mental illness, and substance use disorders. Nearly a decade after the Great Recession, rates of homelessness are once again increasing in the United States. In the face of this crisis, this book seeking to explain why different cities in the United States approach solutions to chronic homelessness in different ways. This research finds that homelessness policy is a highly decentralized and fragmented policy space. This often creates conflicting policy solutions, where publicly funded, evidence-based solutions are often undercut by short-term, reactionary responses, including punitive policing, that may actually promote homelessness in the long term. Overall, the limited coordination between fragmented policy interests and strong trends in decentralization of homeless policy governance contribute to reduced policy opportunities for evidence-based, publicly funded responses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Vincenzo ◽  
Colleen Hergott ◽  
Lori Schrodt ◽  
Subashan Perera ◽  
Jennifer Tripken ◽  
...  

Objectives: Physical therapists (PTs) are integral team members in fall prevention in clinical settings; however, few studies have investigated PTs' engagement in pro-bono community-based falls prevention. Therefore, we aimed to describe the characteristics of PTs and physical therapist assistants (PTAs) in the United States who conduct community-based fall screenings, the reach of screenings, their knowledge and utilization of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's fall-risk screening toolkit (STEADI, Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries), and therapists' knowledge and referrals to evidence-based programs (EBPs) and community resources.Methods: A cross-sectional survey distributed to a convenience sample of PTs/PTAs in the United States through news-blasts, and social media.Results: Four hundred and forty-four therapists who worked with older adults completed the survey. Approximately 40% of the respondents (n = 180) conduct screenings, most frequently annually. People who screen tend to be PTs with >20 years of experience, work in outpatient/wellness or academia, and be involved in the least amount of direct patient care. The majority (n = 344, 77.5%) of survey respondents were somewhat to very familiar with the STEADI, and ~84% (n = 114) of respondents who were very familiar with the STEADI (n = 136) use the toolkit to conduct community-based, pro-bono fall risk screenings. Twenty-six percent (n = 14) out of the 53 PTAs who responded to the survey conduct falls screenings in the community. Of the PTs/PTAs who conduct community-based fall screenings (n = 180), ~ 75% (n = 136) are aware of and refer older adults to EBPs. Over half also refer to Silver Sneakers and/or senior centers.Discussion: PTs and PTAs are key partners in evidence-based multifactorial fall prevention in the community. Data helps inform community organizations that most PTs who engage in community-based fall risk screening utilize the STEADI toolkit and refer to community-based programs. Community organizations seeking PT partners to engage in fall risk screenings and promote referrals to local resources or EBPs will likely have the most success collaborating with local physical therapy education programs or physical therapy clinic managers.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anju Sahay ◽  
Paul A. Heidenreich ◽  
Brian S Mittman ◽  
Parisa Gholami ◽  
Shoutzu Lin

Abstract Communities of Practice (CoPs) are a promising approach to facilitate the implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) to improve care for chronic conditions like heart failure (HF). COPs involve a complex process of acquiring and converting both explicit and tacit knowledge into clinical activities. Formation: In July 2006, a CoP called the Heart Failure Provider Network (HF Network) was established in the United States (US) Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with the overarching goal of improving the quality of care for HF patients. The CoP has involved a total of 1,341 multidisciplinary and multilevel members at all 144 VA Health Care Systems (sites). Examples of CoP activities include discussions of interventions to decrease hospitalization rates and to empower patients and caregivers for self-management. Goals of the CoP include networking facilitation, information dissemination and exchange, collaboration and implementation of EBPs. Assessment: We conceptualized the assessment (formative evaluation) of the HF Network in terms of its various activities (inputs) and proximal impacts (mediators) at the individual-level, and its distal and ultimate impacts (outcomes) at the site-level leading to an improved culture of implementation of new/improved EBPs at the system-wide level. The HF Network membership grew steadily over the nine years. Most members were practicing clinicians (n = 891, 66.4%), followed by administrators (n = 342, 25.5%), researchers (n = 70, 5.2%), and others (n = 38, 2.8%). Participation was “active” for 70.9% versus “passive” for 29.4% of members. The distribution of active members (clinicians 64.7%, administrators 21.6%) was similar to the distribution of overall membership. Survey respondents perceived the HF Network as useful in terms of its varied activities and resources relevant for patient care. Members, particularly those that consider themselves influential in improving quality of care, noted multiple benefits of membership. These included confirmation of one’s own clinical practices, evidence-based changes to their practice and help in understanding facilitators and barriers in setting up or running HF clinics and other programs.


2007 ◽  
Vol 177 (4S) ◽  
pp. 147-148
Author(s):  
Philipp Dahm ◽  
Hubert R. Kuebler ◽  
Susan F. Fesperman ◽  
Roger L. Sur ◽  
Charles D. Scales ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-281
Author(s):  
Sylvia Dümmer Scheel

El artículo analiza la diplomacia pública del gobierno de Lázaro Cárdenas centrándose en su opción por publicitar la pobreza nacional en el extranjero, especialmente en Estados Unidos. Se plantea que se trató de una estrategia inédita, que accedió a poner en riesgo el “prestigio nacional” con el fin de justificar ante la opinión pública estadounidense la necesidad de implementar las reformas contenidas en el Plan Sexenal. Aprovechando la inusual empatía hacia los pobres en tiempos del New Deal, se construyó una imagen específica de pobreza que fuera higiénica y redimible. Ésta, sin embargo, no generó consenso entre los mexicanos. This article analyzes the public diplomacy of the government of Lázaro Cárdenas, focusing on the administration’s decision to publicize the nation’s poverty internationally, especially in the United States. This study suggests that this was an unprecedented strategy, putting “national prestige” at risk in order to explain the importance of implementing the reforms contained in the Six Year Plan, in the face of public opinion in the United States. Taking advantage of the increased empathy felt towards the poor during the New Deal, a specific image of hygienic and redeemable poverty was constructed. However, this strategy did not generate agreement among Mexicans.


Author(s):  
William W. Franko ◽  
Christopher Witko

The authors conclude the book by recapping their arguments and empirical results, and discussing the possibilities for the “new economic populism” to promote egalitarian economic outcomes in the face of continuing gridlock and the dominance of Washington, DC’s policymaking institutions by business and the wealthy, and a conservative Republican Party. Many states are actually addressing inequality now, and these policies are working. Admittedly, many states also continue to embrace the policies that have contributed to growing inequality, such as tax cuts for the wealthy or attempting to weaken labor unions. But as the public grows more concerned about inequality, the authors argue, policies that help to address these income disparities will become more popular, and policies that exacerbate inequality will become less so. Over time, if history is a guide, more egalitarian policies will spread across the states, and ultimately to the federal government.


Author(s):  
Richard Gowan

During Ban Ki-moon’s tenure, the Security Council was shaken by P5 divisions over Kosovo, Georgia, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine. Yet it also continued to mandate and sustain large-scale peacekeeping operations in Africa, placing major burdens on the UN Secretariat. The chapter will argue that Ban initially took a cautious approach to controversies with the Council, and earned a reputation for excessive passivity in the face of crisis and deference to the United States. The second half of the chapter suggests that Ban shifted to a more activist pressure as his tenure went on, pressing the Council to act in cases including Côte d’Ivoire, Libya, and Syria. The chapter will argue that Ban had only a marginal impact on Council decision-making, even though he made a creditable effort to speak truth to power over cases such as the Central African Republic (CAR), challenging Council members to live up to their responsibilities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-107
Author(s):  
Richard Francis Wilson

This article is a theological-ethical Lenten sermon that attempts to discern the transcendent themes in the narrative of Luke 9-19 with an especial focus upon “setting the face toward Jerusalem” and the subsequent weeping over Jerusalem. The sermon moves from a passage from William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying through a series of hermeneutical turns that rely upon insights from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr., Will Campbell, Augustine, and Paul Tillich with the hope of illuminating what setting of the face on Jerusalem might mean. Tillich’s “eternal now” theme elaborates Augustine’s insight that memory and time reduce the present as, to paraphrase the Saint, that all we have is a present: a present remembered, a present experienced, and a present anticipated. The Gospel is a timeless message applicable to every moment in time and history. The sermon seeks to connect with recent events in the United States and the world that focus upon challenges to the ideals of social justice and political tyranny.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenifer L Dice ◽  
Doug Dendy ◽  
Phillip S Sizer ◽  
Chad E Cook ◽  
Sara Feuling ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Objective Limited research has investigated the use of manual therapy to treat the preadolescent (0–12 years of age) population with musculoskeletal and neurological impairments. The purpose of this study was to identify the following among physical therapists holding advanced credentials in pediatrics, neurodevelopmental treatment, or manual therapy: (1) consensus regarding effective techniques in the preadolescent population, (2) differences in opinion, and (3) perceived decision-making barriers and factors regarding use of manual therapy techniques. Methods Credentialed physical therapists in the United States were recruited for a 3-round Delphi investigation. An electronic survey in Round 1 identified musculoskeletal and neurological impairments and the manual techniques considered effective to treat such conditions, in addition to factors and barriers. Responses were used to create the second round, during which a 4-point Likert scale was used to score each survey item. A third round of scoring established consensus. Descriptive statistics and composite scores were calculated for each manual technique by impairment. Between-group differences were calculated using Mann–Whitney U with Bonferroni correction. Results Consensus was determined for several concepts. First, neuromuscular techniques were considered effective across all impairments, and joint mobilizations (grades I-IV) were believed to be effective to treat joint and muscle and myofascial impairments. Second, visceral manipulation and craniosacral therapy were considered ineffective in treating most impairments. There was lack of consensus and clear differences of opinion regarding the use of grade V mobilizations and dry needling. Significant barriers to use of manual therapy were: lack of knowledge, lack of evidence, and fear of litigation and harming patients. Conclusion This study is an initial step for developing manual therapy guidelines, research, and educational opportunities regarding manual therapy in pediatric physical therapy.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document