Physiotherapists’ role in physical activity promotion: Qualitative reflections of patients and providers

ABSTRACT

Background

Physiotherapists are often important figures in the lives of people with physical disabilities and chronic conditions, yet gaps in understanding remain regarding how therapists promote physical activity and leverage existing community-based recreation programs.

Purpose

We used qualitative methods to explore experiences of physiotherapists as well as individuals with disabilities and chronic conditions receiving physiotherapy, with a focus on strategies to promote physical activity and the extent that therapists leverage community-based resources and programs.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews were completed with nine physiotherapists (six American and three Canadian) and eight individuals with a physical disability (all Americans).

Results

Participants reflected on the salience of physical activity promotion throughout physiotherapy but also highlighted barriers. Three themes explored idealized and problematic experiences with physical activity promotion in therapy: 1) individualized promotion of physical activity; 2) increasing physical activity options for patients via engagement with the community; and 3) options for physical activity in the community. Differences were also noted between therapist and patient participants and when contrasting across countries (i.e. funding models). For instance, physiotherapists in publicly funded contexts relied more heavily on engagement with accessible community-based programming than privately funded counterparts.

Conclusion

Therapists should further integrate patient perspectives when considering physical activity promotion. Additional research is needed to explore how therapists incorporate community-based programs into health promotion while further understanding the extent that these strategies align with the scope of physiotherapy practice in varying contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Community recreation
• qualitative research
• rehabilitation
• health promotion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Notes

1. While there are many definitions of physical disability, we focused on individuals experiencing one or more impairment that limits activities of daily living due to physical, social, and/or environmental factors (e.g., spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s disease, herniated/bulging disc, Rheumatoid Arthritis)

2. In the context of this study, community programming is considered in its broadest form whether paid for out of pocket or provided for free by the local municipality.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.