Access students represent a significant proportion of those entering higher education. This questionnaire-based study investigated the potential usefulness of targeting students on Access to higher education (Access) programmes, for recruitment into the allied health professions (AHPs). There were marked differences in the extent to which mature students on Access courses had previously considered studying the AHPs. However, among students claiming to know nothing about individual AHPs, receiving minimal information about the AHPs significantly increased the proportions who would consider careers in occupational therapy, podiatry and diagnostic and therapeutic radiography.These findings suggest that Access students are a worthwhile recruitment target and have important implications for policy makers.

In the UK, major changes are occurring in the regulatory and professional bodies' governance of physiotherapy education. Registration with the Health Professions' Council (the regulatory body) is a requirement to practice physiotherapy in the UK. Physiotherapy education is provided by universities, at a minimum of BSc(Hons) degree level. Funded by the National Health Service (NHS), programmes have to meet the requirements of the regulatory and professional bodies, as well as the NHS and the university sector's quality assurance processes. These quality assurance processes are under review. The education curriculum is determined by the profession, and prescribes the outcomes of programmes, but is less specific about content or hours of study. Reviews of the curriculum involve the clinical physiotherapy community. The professional curriculum incorporates and integrates biomedical and other sciences, applied to physiotherapy. Although female students predominate, the student population has become increasingly diverse in terms of age. Clinical education is provided and assessed by mainly NHS-employed physiotherapists.

BACKGROUND:Communication disorders affect both sexes and people from all ethnic groups, but members of minority ethnic groups and males in the UK are underrepresented in the speech and language therapy profession. Research in the area of recruitment is limited, but a possible explanation is poor awareness and understanding of speech and language therapy as a profession.AIMS:To investigate factors influencing attitudes to a career in speech and language therapy amongst UK school and college students focusing on the similarities and differences between males and females, and between minority ethnic and white students.METHODS & PROCEDURES:A total of 651 male and female school and college students from a range of ethnic groups and all close to selecting degree courses completed a questionnaire designed to examine the attitudes and awareness of speech and language therapy. Eleven semi-structured follow-up interviews were conducted to help understand the questionnaire findings. Quantitative and qualitative analyses examined differences in attitudes and the awareness of speech and language therapy amongst these groups.OUTCOMES & RESULTS:Overall, one-third of participants said they knew nothing about speech and language therapy, and males were significantly less familiar with it. Less than half the participants were aware that speech and language therapy is a degree course, and minority ethnic participants were significantly less likely to know this. Compared with males, females were almost five times as likely to say they would consider a career in speech and language therapy. Participants with relatives in health-related jobs were significantly more likely to consider speech and language therapy than those without such relatives. Compared with white participants, minority ethnic participants said they placed greater importance on studying for a degree, a profession and a scientific career, and were more influenced by a career's prestige and a high salary.CONCLUSIONS:In order to increase the ethnic and gender diversity of speech and language therapists, the profile of the profession needs to be raised with increased awareness of the degree level courses, the scientific, evidence-based nature of the work, and current salary scales.

There is currently a recruitment crisis in occupational therapy in the United Kingdom and also evidence that minority ethnic groups are underrepresented in the profession. This study comprised 651 self-completion questionnaires and 43 depth interviews with minority ethnic and white school and college students to investigate factors influencing attitudes to careers in occupational therapy. Occupational therapy was much less well known than nursing or physiotherapy and, compared with the white participants, the minority ethnic group participants were less familiar with it. Differences were also found in what the minority ethnic and the white participants wanted from careers. Significantly, the minority ethnic participants were more likely to regard doing a degree as important but were also less aware that occupational therapy was studied at degree level. The participants tended to perceive similarities between occupational therapy and nursing and the implications of this are discussed. In conclusion, while 1 in 10 participants would consider a career in occupational therapy, with lower proportions from the minority ethnic than the white participants, many characteristics of careers considered important by these students applied to occupational therapy. Efforts should be made to increase awareness of occupational therapy with, for example, emphasis placed on degree level study, job security and the level of responsibility and professional nature of the career.

Physiotherapy Research InternationalVolume 10, Issue 2 p. iii-v Editorial Editorial — Developing theory in a practice profession Christine Bithell, Corresponding Author Christine Bithell St George's Hospital Medical School, Kingston University, UKSt George's Hospital Medical School, Kingston University, UKSearch for more papers by this author Christine Bithell, Corresponding Author Christine Bithell St George's Hospital Medical School, Kingston University, UKSt George's Hospital Medical School, Kingston University, UKSearch for more papers by this author First published: 09 January 2006 https://doi.org/10.1002/pri.26Citations: 21AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume10, Issue2June 2005Pages iii-v RelatedInformation

Objectives Members of minority ethnic groups are under-represented in many allied health professions including physiotherapy. This research project investigated factors influencing attitudes to careers in physiotherapy amongst UK school and college students, focusing on similarities and differences between minority ethnic and White students.Design Quantitative questionnaire-based study with supplementary follow-up interviews.Setting Schools and colleges local to St. George's Hospital Medical School and Kingston University, UK.Participants Six hundred and fifty-one students from 16 local schools and colleges prior to selecting degree courses and careers.Results Overall, nearly one in six participants said that they knew nothing about physiotherapy, and males were significantly less familiar with it than females. Medicine and nursing were much better known. Three-quarters of participants were aware that physiotherapy is a degree course, but minority ethnic participants were significantly less likely to know this than White participants. Awareness of medicine and nursing as degree courses was greater. White participants were significantly more likely to consider physiotherapy as a career than participants from minority ethnic groups, whereas a career in medicine was more popular with participants from minority ethnic groups. Compared with White participants, minority ethnic participants placed greater importance on doing a degree, a profession, a scientific career, a career's prestige, opportunities for self-employment and a high salary. Such factors may well influence their attitudes to physiotherapy as a career.Conclusions In order to increase the diversity of physiotherapists, the profile of the profession needs to be raised generally with increased awareness of its degree-level course, the scientific, autonomous nature of the work; career opportunities and salary levels. (c) 2004 Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evidence-based practice is a significant movement of fundamental importance in delivery of healthcare throughout the developed world. This editorial examines some of the issues for physiotherapy and suggests that some concepts embodied in evidence-based medicine should not be imported uncritically into an evidence-based physiotherapy practice.

Mission statement To disseminate high quality, original research in physiotherapy and facilitate continuing education for physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals. This was the introduction to my first lead article as scientific and clinical editor of Physiotherapy, written soon after my appointment last year and published in August, 1999. Now I have resigned that position to become head of the school of physiotherapy based at St George's Hospital Medical School, London, and it is timely to look at it again.

From time to time it is pleasing to be able to devote an entire issue to articles that focus on a single topic. This issue affords us the opportunity to look inward at ourselves and consider our development as a profession. From time to time it is pleasing to be able to devote an entire issue to articles that focus on a single topic. This issue affords us the opportunity to look inward at ourselves and consider our development as a profession.

Summary A small qualitative study was carried out to identify and describe issues perceived to arise for physiotherapists from the introduction and expansion of musculoskeletal physiotherapy based in fundholding general practices and health centres in one health authority. Five National Health Service physiotherapists each working in a general practice fundholding setting were interviewed. The audiotaped interviews were transcribed and analysed to develop coding categories. Findings were verified by a further structured interview with the same participants which clarified the coding categories and established the consistency of participants' views. Three main themes emerged: the extrinsic influences on musculoskeletal physiotherapy in a general practice setting; the perceived uncertainties of practice in this new setting; and the responsibilities which the new context of practice entails. Although the findings of this small study must be regarded as preliminary, they highlight issues which would merit further discussion and consideration by the profession. A small qualitative study was carried out to identify and describe issues perceived to arise for physiotherapists from the introduction and expansion of musculoskeletal physiotherapy based in fundholding general practices and health centres in one health authority. Five National Health Service physiotherapists each working in a general practice fundholding setting were interviewed. The audiotaped interviews were transcribed and analysed to develop coding categories. Findings were verified by a further structured interview with the same participants which clarified the coding categories and established the consistency of participants' views. Three main themes emerged: the extrinsic influences on musculoskeletal physiotherapy in a general practice setting; the perceived uncertainties of practice in this new setting; and the responsibilities which the new context of practice entails. Although the findings of this small study must be regarded as preliminary, they highlight issues which would merit further discussion and consideration by the profession.

This study compares the diagnostic reasoning of a group of 5 physiotherapists who have undertaken a formal specialist training programme and gained a qualification in musculoskeletal physiotherapy and a group of 5 equally experienced musculoskeletal physiotherapists who have not undertaken specialist training. Subjects were audiotaped as they worked through a dynamic case history and reached a clinical diagnosis. There were differences in their use of pattern recognition and self-monitoring reasoning skills. The study concludes that for this small group of physiotherapists, formal postgraduate specialist education appeared to have fundamentally changed their approach to a diagnostic task.

It is generally agreed that patients undergoing hip replacement surgery benefit if they adhere to the post-operative regime taught pre-operatively. This study compares the effectiveness of two methods of pre-operative education. Forty-two patients in two closely associated orthopaedic units were randomly assigned to one of two groups which were matched for age, sex and socioeconomic status. Twenty-one patients were asked to read instructional materials only and 21 patients were given an identical instruction pack plus personal explanation and demonstration of exercises. Patients' recall of exercises and recognition of advice given were assessed on the first post-operative day. Each patient was interviewed the next day concerning the content and delivery of the information. The study provides a preliminary indication of the importance of written pre-operative information, since both teaching methods appeared to be equally effective in imparting information.

A questionnaire survey of all physiotherapists employed by two health authorities was undertaken in order to assess their contact, general knowledge and attitudes with regard to Bangladeshi patients. The findings indicated that contact with Bangladeshi people increased awareness of their culture and customs but this did not result in fewer problems in their physiotherapy management. Communication was found to be the greatest problem and more qualified interpreters and cultural awareness training are suggested as solutions.

Introduction Single subject experimental designs are said to be the answer to some of the problems encountered by group studies in clinical settings (Ottenbacher, 1986). In this paper I intend to offer a critique of this method, because I am concerned that it may be accepted, without sufficient debate, as a mainline route to the evaluation of clinical practice. Before we invest our limited time and resources, we need to be sure that our methods have scientific credibility and methodological soundness.