Impact of an Online Program in Ethics in Physiotherapy

NCT05984225 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: BL_ETHICS_01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 126
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Given the continuing ethical problems faced by physiotherapists, improving their students' ethical competence is relevant. The development of ethical decision-making skills is particularly important for students preparing to enter professional health careers like physiotherapy. According to the Bologna process, the education of physiotherapists includes the cultivation of relevant generic/transversal competencies, including ethical competence. To achieve this, diverse teaching, learning, assessment, and feedback strategies are necessary and helpful in facilitating the acquisition of these competencies. The physiotherapist needs to carry out ethics efficiently through ethical reasoning and critical thinking to develop ethical decision-making abilities. Active learning methods allow us to get students to follow the highest ethical standards and successfully manage ethical situations in the workplace. Despite some studies showing physiotherapists have a deficit in clinical practice ethics. However, there is a lack of research focusing on online learning (OL) physiotherapy ethics education, and studies of review on mixed health professionals many times do not include physiotherapy studies. Considering this, the primary objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of an OL program in developing ethical competence in physiotherapy students. Specifically, the study aims to evaluate the impact of the program on generic competences, knowledge acquisition, ethical sensitivity, engagement, and instructional design within the OL environment.

Conditions

Ethics, Narrative

Keywords

Learning; Ethics; Students; Knowledge; Physiotherapy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Generic competencies

  Questionnaire for the Evaluation of Generic Comeptences in Univesity Students. It is a 45-item instrument with a Likert scale from 1 = always to 6 = rarely, thus lower scores mean higher generic competencies. The internal consistency of this questionnaire is 0,92. Several competencies are assessed: 1) instrumental competencies (Job performance, Management skills); 2) systematic competencies (Leadership, Work motivation, Learning capabilities; 3) interpersonal competence (Interpersonal relationships and teamwork).

  0 week, 5 week, 10 week

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Knowledge acquisition of Professional ethics

  0 week, 5 week, 10 week

• Ethical sensitivity

  0 week, 5 week, 10 week

• Engagement

  Week 10

• Design of the Online Learning program instructions

  Week 10

Study Arms (1)

Physiotherapy students

EXPERIMENTAL

Physiotherapy students of the 2nd course of the Grade of Physiotherapy of the University of Valencia.

Other: Online learning

Interventions

Online learning OTHER

The students performed a 10-week Online Learning (OL) program based on Professional Ethics. The program included: 1. Synchronous learning (1 session/week, 1 hour each). 2. Asynchronous learning: i) OL classes were recorded; ii) Moodle platform: for read breaking news, upload tasks or solve any doubt they may have through discussion forums; iii) An OL specific syllabus that consisted of five themes from the ethics knowledge; iv) An OL glossary, including the concept, explanation of the concept, and source; v) Bullet-point videos highlighting the most important issues of each theme; vi) Podcasts about Professional Ethics, Ethics in physiotherapy; vii) Links to websites; viii) Gamification using mobile Apps regarding ethical decision-making, healthcare, and Ethics or Professional Ethics, as well as an OL crossword; ix) OL activities were created and personalized comments about the activities were reported by the teachers to give feedback to the students.

Physiotherapy students

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• To be studying the Physiotherapy Degree at the University of Valencia.

You may not qualify if:

• Not willing to participate.
• Students with previous ethics training.
• Not willing to provide the written consent.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Valencia: lead

Study Sites (1)

Faculty of Physiotherapy of the University of Valencia

Valencia, 46010, Spain

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Narration

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Communication; Behavior

Study Officials

• David Hernández-Guillén, PT, PhD

  University of Valencia

  STUDY CHAIR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant professor, PT, PhD

Model Details: Interventional

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 1, 2023
• First Posted: August 9, 2023
• Study Start: January 1, 2021
• Primary Completion: April 30, 2021
• Study Completion: December 31, 2021
• Last Updated: August 14, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

ES (1)