Knowledge Construction Lab, Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien (IWM), Schleichstr. 6, 72076, Tuebingen, Germany.
Department of Psychology, University of Tuebingen, Schleichstr. 4, 72076, Tuebingen, Germany.
BMC Med Educ. 2019 Nov 1;19(1):401. doi: 10.1186/s12909-019-1844-z.
Epistemological beliefs (EBs) and therapeutic health concepts are two important factors of influence that affect how healthcare professionals process treatment-relevant information. A previous investigation compared physiotherapy students' EBs and therapeutic health concepts with those of professionals in a cross-sectional study. That study design, however, did not allow for any conclusions about the temporal development of these concepts. This shortcoming has been addressed in the study presented here, which aimed to assess that temporal development.
In a longitudinal study, physiotherapists filled in a questionnaire that measured their personal EBs about physiotherapy and about medicine, as well as their biomedical and biopsychosocial therapeutic health concepts. The participants were first examined during their medical training (December 2011). The follow-up measure was about 3 years later when the participants had become professional physiotherapists (January 2015). The development of their EBs was examined using paired sample t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
The analysis was based on 41 participants who filled in the questionnaire at both time points and were working as physiotherapists at the time of the second measurement. There was a development of physiotherapy-related and a development of medicine-related EBs: Physiotherapy-related as well as medicine-related EBs were more sophisticated when physiotherapists had already entered the working world than during their physiotherapy training. Due to psychometric problems of the scales, the development of their therapeutic health concepts could not be analyzed.
EBs are an important factor for (lifelong) learning. Physiotherapy-related and medicine-related EBs developed similarly in both domains. This is an indication that the temporal development of EBs is an expression of professionalization of healthcare personnel in their occupational field. The findings demonstrate that the development of EBs is not completed at the end of vocational training; it appears to be a development that continues even after the transition to professional life.
认识论信念（EBs）和治疗健康观念是影响医疗保健专业人员处理与治疗相关信息的两个重要影响因素。之前的一项调查比较了物理治疗专业学生的 EBs 和治疗健康观念与专业人士的 EBs 和治疗健康观念，这是一项横断面研究。然而，这种研究设计并不能得出这些概念的时间发展的任何结论。本研究旨在评估这种时间发展，因此采用了纵向研究。
在一项纵向研究中，物理治疗师填写了一份问卷，该问卷测量了他们对物理治疗和医学的个人 EBs，以及他们的生物医学和生物心理社会治疗健康观念。参与者首先在医学培训期间（2011 年 12 月）接受检查。后续测量是在大约 3 年后进行的，当时参与者已经成为专业的物理治疗师（2015 年 1 月）。使用配对样本 t 检验和 Wilcoxon 符号秩检验来检查他们 EBs 的发展。
分析基于 41 名在两个时间点填写问卷并在第二次测量时作为物理治疗师工作的参与者。他们的 EBs 发生了发展：与物理治疗相关的 EBs 和与医学相关的 EBs 在物理治疗师已经进入工作世界时比在他们的物理治疗培训期间更加复杂。由于量表的心理计量学问题，他们的治疗健康观念的发展无法进行分析。
EBs 是（终身）学习的一个重要因素。与物理治疗相关的和与医学相关的 EBs 在两个领域都有类似的发展。这表明 EBs 的时间发展是医疗保健人员在其职业领域专业化的表现。研究结果表明，EBs 的发展并未在职业培训结束时完成；它似乎是一种在过渡到专业生活后仍在继续的发展。
