Abstract
Given their enormous socioeconomic burdens, lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases (heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes and obesity) have become priorities for the World Health Organization and health service delivery systems. Health systems have been criticized for relative inattention to the gap between knowledge and practice, related to preventing and managing non-communicable diseases. Physical therapy is one profession that can contribute effectively to patients'/clients' lifestyle change at the upstream end of their prevention and management. Efforts by entry-to-practice physical therapy education programs to align curricula with epidemiological trends towards health practice are varied. One explanation may be lack of a frame of reference to reduce this knowledge translation gap. The purpose of this article is to provide a current perspective on epidemiological indicators and societal priorities to inform physical therapy curriculum content. Such content needs to include health examination/evaluation tools and health behavior change interventions that are consistent with contemporary values, directions, and practices of physical therapy. These considerations provide a frame of reference for curriculum change. Based on five years of experience and dialogue across curriculum stakeholders, we give an example of how epidemiologically-informed and evidence-based best health practices may be systematically integrated into physical therapy curricula to maximize patient/client health and conventional physical therapy outcomes. This novel approach provides an example to other entry-to-practice physical therapy programs on aligning their curricula with societal health priorities, specifically non-communicable diseases. Our intent is to stimulate dialogue about effectively integrating health-based competencies into entry-level education and advancing best practice, as opposed to simply evidence-based practice, across professions and health services; and to establish accreditable, health promotion practice standards in physical therapy.
- Received March 14, 2015.
- Accepted December 6, 2015.