It's only a few months since the last WCPT meeting in Singapore, but plans are already taking shape for the next Congress. Over the last few days, WCPT has been asking what people want in South Africa, and calling for some input from the broader physiotherapy community. So it would seem like a golden opportunity to push for more activities, forums, opportunities and speakers who can promote critical thinking and practice. There is a Survey Monkey poll that you can complete here (deadline 7th October), and WCPT has announced its Scientific Committee - the people who will decide what gets into the programme and what doesn't. The committee comprises: Professor Dina Brooks … [Read more...] about Want more critical physiotherapy at WCPT in 2017?
New: humanities
Although it’s going to be hard to accept, particularly by those people currently striving to make a difference in the profession, but it probably won’t be this generation of physiotherapists that bring about the radical change necessary to prepare the profession for the new world of 21st century health care. There are any number of reasons for this: Physiotherapists are, by and large, a relatively conservative bunch, who don’t instigate radical change Physiotherapy is highly respected and well patronised, so there are few indicators that we need to change much Most people in positions of authority have received a traditional training, and tend to like things the way that they are, … [Read more...] about New: humanities
Learning to think otherwise
One of the real pleasures of my job is the chance to supervise students doing lengthy doctoral and masters theses. I have a number of students doing different project, and they seem like the epitome of the kind of close personal relationship at the heart of learning and teaching. I had pause to reflect yesterday on an experience with one of my students who is looking at the way that biomedical discourses have come to dominate the way we think about cancer. He's using the writings of Michel Foucault to guide his thinking and, having no real appreciation for Foucault, he's made really good progress. Throughout his project he's grappled with his own belief that environmental and … [Read more...] about Learning to think otherwise
Posts worth reading – update on interesting posts and ideas from around the web
Here is an update on some recent posts from around the Internet that may be of interest: What scientific idea is ready for retirement? From Brian Christian at Edge.com Scientific Knowledge Should Be Structured as "Literature" In my view, what's most outmoded within science, most badly in need of retirement, is the way we structure and organize scientific knowledge itself. Academic literature, even as it moves online, is a relic of the era of typesetting, modeled on static, irrevocable, toothpaste-out-of-the-tube publication. Just as the software industry has moved from a "waterfall" process to an "agile" process—from monolithic releases shipped from warehouses of mass-produced disks to … [Read more...] about Posts worth reading – update on interesting posts and ideas from around the web
Physiotherapy needs more than just a radical curriculum
A few days ago, I blogged about the new graduating competencies that will begin to be used in Australia and New Zealand in the the next few years (click here to read this post.) To me, they represent the kind of radical (critical) thinking that is so desperately needed in the physiotherapy profession. As I mentioned in the blogpost, the new competencies are drawn - almost verbatim - from the CanMED system which has been operating in Canada since 2000. The CanMED system was based on public consultations that took place as far back as the 1980s in Ontario (see Nuefeld et al, 1998) which pointed to the fact that 'scientific knowledge has brought large benefits to patients in clinical … [Read more...] about Physiotherapy needs more than just a radical curriculum
World Confederation of Physical Therapy Congress 2015
I had an absolute whirlwind day at the first day of the WCPT Congress in Singapore, starting at 7am with the Mental Health networking session and finally heading back to the hotel at 11.30pm from the @PTpubnight at the Berlin Bar. The best way to catch some of the feeling of being here is through twitter – have a look at the hashtag #WCPT2015 for dips into most of the sessions plus some social snippets as well. The overwhelming feeling here is that it is wonderful to be in such a global environment with delegates being able to learn from each other and constantly challenge local assumptions we make about what it is to ‘be a physiotherapist’. What follows are some personal highlights from … [Read more...] about World Confederation of Physical Therapy Congress 2015
Critical physiotherapy research update
Depression embodied: an ambiguous striving against fading Louise Danielsson and Susanne Rosberg Although depression is associated to physical discomfort, meanings of the body in depression are rarely addressed in clinical research. Drawing on the concept of the lived body, this study explores depression as an embodied phenomenon. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, the analysis of narrative-based interviews with 11 depressed adults discloses a thematic structure of an embodied process of an ambiguous striving against fading. Five subthemes elicit different dimensions of this process, interpreted as disabling or enabling: feeling estranged, feeling confined, feeling … [Read more...] about Critical physiotherapy research update