Once again ENPHE (The European Network of Physiotherapy in Higher Education) organized an interesting conference. This time the conference was in Prague, Czech Republic – Charles University – Faculty of Physical Education and Sport. The theme was Educating Physiotherapists for a Global Mindset. A total of 250 participants from 39 different countries both students and teachers attended the conference. The programme included keynote lectures, working sessions and inspiring discussions. One part of the conference was ENPHE research group session.

Over the past year, members of the research group have been working on with the three topics. The first have been a scoping review article, the second the “More Life to Your Years” research and innovation project and the third Evidence-Based Physiotherapy Blended Intensive programme. In this blog article, we describe the results of a research team presented at the ENPHE conference.

A Scoping Review

Following the ENPHE spring seminar in 2022, part of the ENPHE Research Group team set out to carry out a review concerning the effectiveness of EBP learning methods during the initial training course. This work lasted approximately 18 months and culminated in a publication Boshnjaku et al. 2023: Improving the Evidence-Based Practice Skills of Entry-Level Physiotherapy Students through Educational Interventions: A Scoping Review of Literature. During the ENPHE Congress in Prague, we presented the project and the results of our exploratory review. EBP learning interventions appear useful in increasing students’ skills. However, several pitfalls exist (lack of time, clinical model, etc.). We then discussed with the participants the value of using the clinic to improve the complete use of the three parts of EBP (including the notion of a clinical mentoring model). Finally, we exchanged future paths of research regarding this topic. We are already thinking about the next steps to study EBP learning and teaching.

More Life to your years project

The “More Life to Your Years” research and innovation project, aiming to identify frailty and factors contributing to human vulnerability using a mixed methos approach of qualitative research design, as well as comprehensive questionnaires. The topic of population aging is currently a kind of phenomenon, with an overlap in the demographic, economic, social and political spheres. This is an issue that includes a huge range of aspects, factors that intertwine with each other. For many years, our faculty (Faculty of Physical Education and Sports at Charles University) has been trying to contribute to the issue of aging population by implementing projects in the Czech Republic aimed both at finding the consequences of the population aging process and at finding options, especially the negative impacts affect aging.

Not only for this reason, but it is also very much welcomed the opportunity to get involved in an international project that deals with the given topic and tries to advance research in the given area further. We also very much welcomed the opportunity to involve my students in the project – students of the field of physiotherapy, for whom this possibility of cooperation is a great experience for the future performance of their profession. The project we are implementing together will allow us to exchange experience between individual European countries, compare research results between individual countries, but also provide a greater and more comprehensive contribution to the given topic, a contribution to the aging population.

Charles University joined the project last year and together with other countries we will implement a qualitative study. Until now, we have translated the materials that will be used as part of the investigation at our workplace, we have obtained the approval of the ethics committee to conduct our investigation, and in November 2023 we will start the first investigation, and we plan that the project in the Czech Republic will run for 6 months, and then we will begin the evaluation give. We reported on these steps taken and plans for the future at the ENPHE conference in Prague.

In the conference the “More Life to Your Years” project was presented by two students (Imri den Ouden from Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands and Jana Pojerová from Charles University, Czech Republic) who are working on this pilot research together with two researchers Dagmar Pavlü, from Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic and Anne Griet Brader, Hanze University of Applied Sciences. Groningen the Netherlands. Furthermore, the opportunity for countries to participate in this research was highlighted, leading to a stimulating group discussion.

As a student, I found the experience motivating and interesting to see how the research working group operates, furthermore, I was welcomed with a friendly atmosphere where new ideas are received with open arms. It provided valuable insights into the world of evidence-based physiotherapy and education, inspiring a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

BIP course, Evidence-Based Physiotherapy

During ENPHE spring seminar 2023, we started the contacts about the possibility of developing the BIP program. After that seminar, for months, the three universities involved have been working on its contents and management. It has been a challenging organization. The work done has been explained in ENPHE conference 2023 in Prague, where we were able to show the universities involved, the learning assignment, the evaluation process, the teaching staff involved, and part of the contents centered in Evidence-Based Physiotherapy. The course started on 5.10.2023 with online part and continue week 43 face to face part in Kuopio Finland. Totally 46 students and 7 teachers participate to the BIP course.

Future

In the future, the development work will continue together. During the ENPHE conference we got new ideas in which we like to develop and implement in the future.

Authors:

Äijö Marja, PhD, Principal lecturer, gerontology and rehabilitation, Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Kuopio, Finland
Boshnjaku Arben, University “Fehmi Agani”, Gjakova, Kosovo
Pallot Adrien, CEERRF, Saint-Denis, France
Griet Brader Anne, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen Netherlands
den Ouden Imri, students, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen Netherlands
Schoo Paula, students Hanze University of Applied sciences
Naia Entonado Zeltia, PhD, University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain
Pojerová Jana, students Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Pavlu Dagmar, Physiotherapist, Assoc. Prof. Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

References:

Boshnjaku A, Arnadottir AS, Pallot A, Wagener M, Äijö M. 2023. Improving the Evidence-Based Practice Skills of Entry-Level Physiotherapy Students through Educational Interventions: A Scoping Review of Literature. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(16), 6605; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20166605

The European Network of Physiotherapy in Higher Education (ENPHE). 2023. In available: https://www.enphe.org/en