Open AccessBelief and participation with clinical physiotherapists in research
Author(s) -
Talhatu Kolapo Hamzat,
Nurudeen Amusat
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
south african journal of physiotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.166
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 2410-8219
pISSN - 0379-6175
DOI - 10.4102/sajp.v58i2.121
Subject(s) - christian ministry , relevance (law) , medical education , medicine , alternative medicine , clinical practice , health professionals , psychology , family medicine , nursing , health care , political science , pathology , law
Research is a major tool in updating professional knowledge and discovering of new techniques. The relevance ofresearch to Physiotherapy in this era of evidence-based practice cannotbe over-emphasised. This survey was carried out to investigate: a) thelevel of participation of Kuwait based clinical physical therapists (CPTs)in research (b) their research beliefs and (c) factors enhancing or hindering their participation in research.One hundred and five CPTs from seven Ministry of Health (MOH)Hospitals were surveyed, using a 21 - item structured questionnaire.Ninety-six of the 105 questionnaire forms were returned, 87 (90.6%) ofwhich were complete. The results showed that 71 (81.6%) of the participants agreed that CPTs should engage in research and 79 (90.8%) believed that research would enhance practice. While 75 (86.2%) claimed that readingPhysiotherapy journals has enhanced their practice, only 34 (39.1%) had ever participated in any research since qualifying as a basic physiotherapist. Only 6(6.9%) had scientific publications in professional journals and 34(39.1%) were regularly subscribing to professional journals. Five factors were identified as hindrances to research.These were poor library facilities (80.4%), time constraints (86.2%), lack of research funds (74.7%), lack of equip-ment (71.3%) and lack of pre-requisite training in research activities (44.8%).From the results obtained in this survey, it can be inferred that the level of participation of Kuwait - based CPTs inresearch is very low. Thus, implying that clinical observations are not being validated through research. Acquisitionof new knowledge and updating on existing/methods/techniques through the reading of professional Journals is low.