Finnish physiotherapy education as a regional promoter of physical activity in populations with special needs (Case study 1997-2011)

摘要

Background: According to European public health policy, several actors should participate in healthpromotion. In order to obtain a broader view of health promotion and attain more efficient collaboration, the roleof each actor needs to be clarified. The aim of this study was to describe the role of physiotherapy education inpromoting physical activity of persons with need for extra support in their active participation. Methods: Thisresearch collates two studies carried out in physiotherapy education at the Satakunta University of AppliedSciences (SAMK) in Pori, Finland. The first study [RI] focused on bachelor’s theses published in 1997-2009dealing with physical activity for persons with special needs [i.e., adapted physical activity]. The second study[RII] focused on pedagogical projects created as student assignment in the courses of adapted physical activity in2010-2011. In both studies, analysis was carried out by sorting the content of documents (RI: abstracts, RII:project documents), complemented by simple counting of frequencies. Results: In all, 57 theses and 39 projectswere eligible. Social services and health care providers were found to be the most common collaborative partners(n=43). Moreover, 22 efforts were based on collaboration with on organisation. Nearly 80% of the thesispartners were from the Satakunta region. Both studies included aspects of national and internationalcollaboration (n=11). The most common fields for topics of the theses and projects were recreation (RI 39%, RII64%) and rehabilitation (RI 56%, RII 38%), with some cases covering multiple fields. The most common targetgroup of the theses were the elderly. Projects tended to favour working-aged adults and children, but someinvolved several age groups. Nearly 40% of the theses had a target group with specific diagnosis. In projects,diagnoses were most often intellectual disability or physical impairment. In addition, the promotion of physicalactivity for the unemployed and those with a tendency to abuse alcohol were also covered. Conclusions: Thetopics of theses and student-led projects focused on physical activity in a broad sense. Educational efforts seemto have had a primary impact in regional development and in regional service provision. Physiotherapyeducation offered a diverse tool for collaboration through physical activity in a variety of ways with local,national, and even international partners. Physiotherapy education enhanced the physical activity participation ofseveral populations in need of extra support. Participation was enhanced within a multitude of settings.