Editor\u27s note

The Editor-in-Chief of the Philippine Journal of Physical Therapy introduces its inaugural issue

Evolution of Physical Therapy Scholarship in the Philippines: A Scientometric Analysis of Peer-Reviewed Publications

ABSTRACT Introduction. The Philippine Journal of Physical Therapy began publication in 2021. The editorial board identified as a high-priority project to undertake a detailed analysis of current publishing practice among physical therapy researchers in the Philippines. Methods. This study systematically mined publications from Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed using the keywords “physical therapy” OR “physiotherapy” OR “physical therapist” OR “physiotherapist.” Results were further refined to only include English publications by authors from the Philippines. Publication, citation, collaboration, and text-co-occurrence network analysis were done using RStudio and VOSViewer. Results. A total of 122 publications from 1987 to 2022 were identified. Majority of the literature was primary studies (70.49%), secondary or review articles (13.93%) and proceedings of national and/or international conferences (10.65%). The most common and earliest collaborators of Filipino authors were from Australia, United States of America and Hong Kong. Five clusters of co-occurring keywords were identified: (1) case report, validity, function, mobility; (2) meta-analysis, systematic review, database, search; (3) perception, qualitative, barrier, value; (4) Evidence-based practice, attitude, need, confidence; and (5) COVID-19, pandemic, filipino, cross-sectional. Discussion. This study provides an overview and valuable guidance for physical therapy researchers, practitioners, educators, and policymakers to plan for the future direction of physical therapy research in the country. Stakeholders should consider the results of the study in identifying future projects to build capacity, develop research agendas and policy guidelines, and create collaborative opportunities to further improve physical therapy research productivity in the country

Estudios de Caso sobre Ciencias Agropecuarias y Rurales en el siglo XXI.

Libro científico sobre estudios de casos en el medio agropecuario y ruralCon el advenimiento del siglo XXI y el avance de los procesos de globalización, el medio rural presenta diversos cambios económicos, sociales, políticos y culturales. Lo anterior significa que el campo es un objeto de estudio altamente dinámico, complejo e inasible. las ciencias agropecuarias y rurales, en la actualidad, requieren de un abordaje sistémico e interdisciplinario que den cuenta de la heterogeneidad de situaciones y contextos que enfrenta el campo mexicano. La presente obra agrupa 18 estudios de caso, que capturan algunas fotografías de las diversas problemáticas de la ruralidad mexicana, con lo cual se pretende dar cuenta tanto de los objetivos de estudio como de la perspectiva teórico metodológico desde que estos son abordados. lo anterior tiene que ver con el hecho de que las ciencias agropecuarias y rurales manifiestan un alto grado de observación empírica, motivo por el que los estudios de caso se convierten en la perspectiva metodológica idónea que permite ir y venir de la realidad a la teoría y viceversa para la construcción de objetos de estudio. En este volumen se aborda una gran diversidad de casos, que sintetizan la heterogeneidad de enfoques y perspectivas mediante las cuales los fenómenos agropecuarios y rurales han sido abordados en el Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias y Rurales de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, en los últimos 30 años

Analysis of Instructor Comments on Student Performance on Selected Assessment Activities in a Patient/Client Management Course

Purpose: Studies have shown that specific instructor feedback on student performance enhances student learning. Supervised practice opportunities such as pro-bono clinics during didactic portions of the curriculum allow faculty supervisors to provide specific comments on skill, decision-making, communication, efficiency, safety of practice and clinical reasoning. Use of learning management systems (LMS) can facilitate the feedback process by providing a simple and easily accessible repository of information for both faculty supervisors and students. The purpose of the study was to organize and analyze faculty comments on selected assessment activities to generate trends that can inform student performance and suggest course changes to improve course learning outcomes. Method: Pairs of students provided pro-bono physical therapy sessions for six weeks as part of a patient/client management class in neurological physical therapy. Faculty supervisors contemporaneously provided comments on student performance using a predetermined grading rubric for each pro-bono session. The comments were coded and analyzed to generate trends related to student performance and to inform the faculty on the frequency and nature of the comments provided. Results: Eighteen (18) pairs of students performed 108 physical therapy sessions on 18 volunteer participants over a six-week period. There were 830 comments from the six faculty supervisors, averaging 38 comments per supervisor and eight comments per student pair per session. There was an equal number of comments on areas of strength as there were on areas of improvement. Very few comments were made that encouraged the student to reflect on their performance. Comments related to improvement on safety significantly decreased as the sessions progressed. In terms of clinical reasoning strategy, majority of comments were about procedural reasoning. Discussion/Conclusion: Review of faculty supervisor comments appear to add value to the overall course assessment and student learning. There is a need to provide more comments that guide the students to self-assess their performance. Continued close monitoring and feedback by the faculty supervisors may have resulted in better student performance as reflected in the decline of the number of comments related to areas needing improvement as the sessions progressed. Having the faculty provide more written comments will further deepen the value of the feedback provided to the students

Ethical and Legal Analysis of a Patient Case

As health care professionals encounter increasingly complex issues surrounding patient care, it is important to develop an effective approach in investigating the legal and ethical consequences of such scenarios. This paper presents a systematic process to analyze and solve the legal and ethical implications of a specific patient case. This procedure may be used by other practitioners as a template for analyzing practice issues involving their respective professions

Improving cultural diversity awareness of physical therapy educators

In this climate of increasing diversity in the population of patients requiring Physical Therapy (PT) services, PT educators should prepare students and future clinicians to work competently in culturally diverse environments. To be able to achieve this goal, PT educators should be culturally competent as well. The purpose of this study was to develop and implement a workshop aimed at improving cultural diversity awareness of the University of the Pacific (UOP) PT educators. The seminar content and class materials were developed by the author in close consultation with the workshop facilitator, who is an expert on cultural diversity. These materials were validated by Physical Therapists and cultural diversity experts. To determine the effectiveness of the workshop in improving cultural diversity awareness, the Cultural Diversity Awareness Questionnaire (CDAQ) was developed, validated for content, analyzed for reliability, field tested and pilot tested. Results indicated that the instrument was valid and reliable. The one-day workshop was presented to twelve academic and clinical faculty of the UOP PT Department. The one group pretest-posttest experimental design was used, with the participants completing the CDAQ before and after the workshop. The attendees also completed a course evaluation at the conclusion of the seminar. Results showed a statistically significant positive change in the pretest/posttest results. This indicated that the workshop was effective in improving cultural diversity awareness of the participants. Results of the workshop evaluation affirmed the achievement of the educational objectives and effectiveness of the facilitator. This study provided-a-solid-initial-foundation-on-which a-comprehensive cultural competence program can be developed

Improving cultural diversity awareness of physical therapy educators

In this climate of increasing diversity in the population of patients requiring Physical Therapy (PT) services, PT educators should prepare students and future clinicians to work competently in culturally diverse environments. To be able to achieve this goal, PT educators should be culturally competent as well. The purpose of this study was to develop and implement a workshop aimed at improving cultural diversity awareness of the University of the Pacific (UOP) PT educators. The seminar content and class materials were developed by the author in close consultation with the workshop facilitator, who is an expert on cultural diversity. These materials were validated by Physical Therapists and cultural diversity experts. To determine the effectiveness of the workshop in improving cultural diversity awareness, the Cultural Diversity Awareness Questionnaire (CDAQ) was developed, validated for content, analyzed for reliability, field tested and pilot tested. Results indicated that the instrument was valid and reliable. The one-day workshop was presented to twelve academic and clinical faculty of the UOP PT Department. The one group pretest-posttest experimental design was used, with the participants completing the CDAQ before and after the workshop. The attendees also completed a course evaluation at the conclusion of the seminar. Results showed a statistically significant positive change in the pretest/posttest results. This indicated that the workshop was effective in improving cultural diversity awareness of the participants. Results of the workshop evaluation affirmed the achievement of the educational objectives and effectiveness of the facilitator. This study provided-a-solid-initial-foundation-on-which a-comprehensive cultural competence program can be developed