Clinical Reasoning Process of Physiotherapists When Observing Hemiplegic Gait

Technical University of Bern54 enrolled

Overview

The goal of this study is to find out what clinical reasoning process physiotherapists undergo when observing hemiplegic patients gait.

Physiotherapists don't usually use any assessments to evaluate gait but observe it without an instrument. The questions in this study are: * what abnormalities can physiotherapists detect when observing a patient walking? * what do they consider the main problem that has a negative effect on the patient's walking? * what hypothesis do they generate? * how is the inter-rater reliability for the "main problem" and the hypothesis?

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Stroke

Interventions

No interventionOTHER

No intervention

Eligibility

Sex: ALLHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion criteria: * chartered physiotherapists * physiotherapists in training * working with stroke patients Exclusion criteria: \- other languages than German

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Number of Gait Abnormalities Observed

The questionnaire will be the basis of this study as it will be the basis for open coding. It is handed out to 54 observers (=physiotherapists) and will be filled in 6 times (for 6 patient videos). The questionnaire consists of 3 main questions: 1. what gait abnormalities do you see? 2. What do you consider the main problem (1 sentence) 3. what is your hypothesis (max. 3) The question one delivers different items (each new observation is a new item) that were determined patient by patient and rater by rater by three independent researchers. They were then listed and categorised by consensus. Finally, the frequency of each item was analysed globally and for each patient.

Time frame: up to 2 months

Number of Main Problems Observed

This outcome is a result of the second part of the Questionnaire: 1) What Gait Abnormalities do You See? 2) What do You Consider the Main Problem (1 Sentence) 3) What is Your Hypothesis (Max. 3) By consensus the three independent researchers identified the main statements from the sentences written. Items were afterwards categorised. Finally the frequency of each item was analysed globally and for each patient.

Time frame: up to 2 months

Number of Hypotheses Observed

This outcome is a result of the third part of the questionnaire: 1) What Gait Abnormalities do You See? 2) What do You Consider the Main Problem (1 Sentence) 3) What is Your Hypothesis (Max. 3) By consensus the three independent researchers identified and categorised all the listed hypotheses from question number three of the questionnaire. After that the use frequency of each item was analysed globally and for each patient.

Time frame: up to 2 months

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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