Camden Chantal, Mulligan Hilda, Cinar Eda, Gauvin Cheyenne, Berbari Jade, Nugraha Boya, Gutenbrunner Christoph
School of Rehabilitation, Sherbrooke University, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada.
Research Centre of the Sherbrooke University Hospital Centre, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada.
Physiother Res Int. 2023 Jan;28(1):e1974. doi: 10.1002/pri.1974. Epub 2022 Sep 14.
Ensuring access to high quality services in paediatric physiotherapy (PT) is important to respond to the diverse needs of children. The accessibility and quality of paediatric PT services has however never been explored internationally. The purpose of this study is to explore the perceived strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of paediatric PT services offered around the world.
A cross-sectional survey design method was used with a subsample of physiotherapists (PTs) who had previously participated in an online survey. The survey used for this study included close- and open-ended questions about access to services and the SWOT of PT services within participants' country. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize quantitative data and a content analysis was performed on open-ended questions.
Overall, 47 PTs from 47 countries completed the survey; 36% of participants reported that free access was available to all children in their country while 34% stated that a referral was always required when accessing services. Lack of direct access, insufficient specialized PT, financial and geographical issues were the main perceived barriers to access services. Access also emerged as one of the nine themes following the SWOT analysis. Other themes included education, quality of PT approaches, PT practices, communication and cooperation, teamwork, government, resources, and attitudes of PTs.
Despite variations in accessing services and how services are delivered across countries, some similar themes influencing PTs practices were found. Future opportunities for PTs working with children should aim at optimizing the initial training and professional development of PTs in paediatrics, increasing access to services for all children and advocating for sustainable and well-coordinated models of care building on best practices.
确保儿童物理治疗（PT）中高质量服务的可及性对于满足儿童的多样化需求至关重要。然而，儿童PT服务的可及性和质量在国际上从未被探讨过。本研究的目的是探究全球范围内提供的儿童PT服务的感知优势、劣势、机会和威胁（SWOT）。
采用横断面调查设计方法，对之前参与过在线调查的物理治疗师（PT）子样本进行调查。本研究使用的调查包括关于服务可及性以及参与者所在国家PT服务的SWOT的封闭式和开放式问题。描述性统计用于汇总定量数据，并对开放式问题进行内容分析。
总体而言，来自47个国家的47名PT完成了调查；36%的参与者报告称其所在国家的所有儿童都可免费获得服务，而34%的参与者表示使用服务时总是需要转诊。缺乏直接就诊途径、专业PT不足、财务和地理问题是服务可及性的主要感知障碍。在SWOT分析之后，可及性也成为九个主题之一。其他主题包括教育、PT方法质量、PT实践、沟通与合作、团队合作、政府、资源以及PT的态度。
尽管各国在服务获取和服务提供方式上存在差异，但发现了一些影响PT实践的相似主题。未来从事儿童工作的PT的机会应旨在优化儿科PT的初始培训和专业发展，增加所有儿童获得服务的机会，并倡导基于最佳实践建立可持续且协调良好的护理模式。
