The shared learning journey: effective partnerships to deliver health promotion

Health promotion is a key role for healthcare professionals. It is based on effective collaboration between the healthcare professional and the public. Healthcare education has the challenge of future-proofing its curricula to meet the challenges laid out in health promotion strategies. However, engaging students in health promotion has traditionally been challenging within the delivery of an academic and largely theoretical module.This paper provides a practice example of an initiative in which partnerships between students, academic staff and community partners are key to the effective delivery of a health promotion module within a pre-registration healthcare programme.The partnerships were developed in two stages and use a social constructivist and assets-based approach to create a shared learning journey. Working in partnership has led to positive student engagement and has been beneficial to all those involved. It has led to positive changes within the module and beyond

Methodological considerations and reflection on using online photo-elicitation techniques to explore students’ professional doctorate journey

In this methodological discussion, a critical and reflective account of the process and use of online photo-elicitation interviews is given. The role and importance of a well-structured pre-interview task are discussed with a working example aiming to capture physiotherapy students’ professional doctorate journey. It is argued that photo-elicitation techniques can increase active participation and enhance participants’ storytelling by encouraging the use of abstract thinking. This article also offers unique insights through the researcher’s reflective diary and direct quotes from the participants. Key considerations and practical recommendations are provided, such as the online application of photo-elicitation, the nature of the observed topic and working with and not alongside the pictures. Overall, this article is intended to further contribute to the literature on the evaluation and implementation of photo-elicitation techniques, especially in an online setting.</p

Striding up the ladder: a critical reflection on student-staff partnership through the lens of Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour

Student-staff partnerships differ in doctoral context compared to other academic levels of study. Normally, postgraduate research students’ rely more on their supervisor team and the graduate school for guidance, support, and research and developmental opportunities. In contrast, taught doctorate programmes offer a broader application of student-staff partnerships as they involve opportunity for greater engagement. This essay provides a student’s reflection on the changing student-staff relationship during the pre-registration, taught, Doctorate of Physiotherapy (DPT) programme at Glasgow Caledonian University, drawing on previous university experience. The piece concludes with a discussion of recommendations for future student-staff partnerships

Consensus on occupational health competencies for UK first contact physiotherapists

Background: Patients at risk of preventable sickness absence frequently attend at primary care. First contact physiotherapists (FCP) may provide an optimal way of reducing this risk; however, there is significant variability in clinical practice, limited research directing best practice and this work and health role is traditionally seen as outside of the ‘therapeutic relationship’. If FCP's training and development in this area is considered, FCP's will be able to effectively conduct fitness for work and sickness absence certification within UK primary care settings. Aims: This study aimed to reach expert consensus for work-related competencies for FCP practice for patients at risk of preventable sickness absence. Methods: A modified Delphi technique involved a UK-wide FCP expert panel completing three rounds of an online questionnaire. The initial 30-competency questionnaire, based on two separate Nominal Group Techniques in a FCP and Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Occupational Health and Ergonomics (ACPOHE) physiotherapist cohort and Health Education England's published Roadmap to Practice, covered occupational health specific items (knowledge and skills) related to the topic. Consensus threshold was set a priori at 70% level of group agreement. Items not reaching consensus were modified and new items added based on themes from qualitative data from the open-ended free text questions present in each section. Items that reached values greater than or equal to 70% of agreement among experts were considered definitive for the competency items. Items between 51% and 69% of agreement were included for the next round and those items with less than or equal to 50% of agreement were considered unnecessary and were excluded. In the third round, the occupational health (OH) specific contents for primary care were classified according to the degree of consensus as follows: strong (≥70% of agreement), moderate (51–69% of agreement) and weak (50% of agreement) based on the maximum consensus reached. Results: Of the 30 initial competencies, 20 (67%) reached a strong degree of consensus and 2 (7%) reached a moderate degree of consensus and 8 (27%) competencies were not recommended (≤50% of agreement). 20 OH specific competencies reached a priori consensus level of agreement to provide the final group list. Conclusions: This paper provides an empirically derived list of OH competencies for FCP education in primary care ‘first point of care’ physiotherapy with a high level of expert agreement and high retention rate between rounds. Contribution of the paper: • The role of certifying sickness absence and providing fitness for work advice within primary care settings has normally been conducted by General Practitioners, largely due to the legislative aspects that require a ‘Fit Note’. • FCPs may be ideally suited in ensuring that work is considered at an early stage to help support and prompt conversations about work. • Most individual's health needs are addressed within Primary Care (first point of contact in the NHS). • There is a lack of empirical evidence on the competencies needed for the new ‘first point of contact role’ whereby FCPs manage undiagnosed and undifferentiated musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions.</p

Agreement of two physical behaviour monitors for characterising posture and stepping in children aged 6-12 years

All new physical behaviour measurement devices should be assessed for compatibility with previous devices. Agreement was assessed between the activPAL4TM and activPAL3TM physical behavior monitors within a laboratory and a multi-day free-living context. Healthy children aged 6-12 years performed standardised (sitting, standing, stepping) (12 min) and non-standardised (6 min) activities in a laboratory and a multi-day (median 3 days) free-living assessment whilst wearing both monitors. Agreement was assessed using Bland-Altman plots, sensitivity, and the positive predictive value (PPV). There were 15 children (7M/8F, 8.4 ± 1.8 years old) recruited. For the laboratory-based standardised activities, sitting time, stepping time, and fast walking/jogging step count were all within ±5% agreement. However, the activPAL4TM standing time was lower (-6.4%) and normal speed walking step count higher (+7.8%) than those of the activPAL3TM. For non-standardised activities, a higher step count was recorded by the activPAL4TM (+4.9%). The standardised activity sensitivity and PPV were all &gt;90%, but the non-standardised activity values were lower. For free-living agreement, the standing time was lower (-7.6%) and step count higher (all steps + 2.2%, steps with cadence &gt;100 step/min + 6.6%) for the activPAL4TM than the activPAL3TM. This study highlights differences in outcomes as determined by the activPAL4TM and activPAL3TM, which should be considered when comparing outcomes between studies.</p

The accumulation of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in children with cerebral palsy and their typically developing peers aged 6–12 years

Background: Physical activity and sedentary behaviour are usually described using daily volume indicators. However, for young children (6–12 years) and specifically those with conditions such as Cerebral Palsy, exploration of how physical behaviours are accumulated may provide valuable insight for behaviour change intervention planning. Research question: How are physical activity and sedentary behaviour accumulated by 6–12 year old children with Cerebral Palsy and is this different from their typically developing peers? Methods: A cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of ambulatory children with CP (CP) and typically developing (TD) children, 6–12 years, was recruited. Children wore a thigh worn activity monitor (activPAL4) during typical daily activities. Overall volume of daily sedentary, upright and stepping time was characterised as well as how this was accumulated in bouts of activity. Results: There were no differences (p&lt;0.05) in either volume or accumulation measures of physical behaviours between TD (n=14, 8.2±1.8 years) and children with CP (n=15, 8.6±1.4 years). However, there was wide variation in activity accumulation patterns between individuals. The mean proportion of daily time in each physical behaviour, accumulated in bouts above set times was: Upright time: bouts &gt;5 mins 46 % TD &amp; CP, bouts &gt;20 mins 9 % TD &amp; CP; Stepping time: bouts &gt;0.5 mins 50 % TD, 45 % CP, bouts &gt;2 mins 10 % TD, 9 % CP; Sedentary time: bouts &gt;5 mins 77 % TD, 76 % CP, bouts &gt;30 mins 26 % TD, 29 % CP. Significance: Young children with CP aged 6–12 years do not appear to have different physical behaviours to their TD peers. However, for individuals, descriptors of accumulation of physical activity and sedentary behaviour bouts provides additional information over and above volume measures, giving insight into behaviour which may be used to inform intervention planning.</p