Community-based Physiotherapy in Western India: Some Findings from Surveys

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Physiotherapy Students’ Awareness of Community Health in India

“…This is not a new finding as it has been noted in previous studies on Indian physiotherapy students (Rajan, 2012(Rajan, , 2013. Community Health was the second preferred specialisation, which is indeed a finding unique to this study; previous studies in India having reported Community Physiotherapy as a neglected profession (Rajan, 2012(Rajan, , 2013.…”

“…This is not a new finding as it has been noted in previous studies on Indian physiotherapy students (Rajan, 2012(Rajan, , 2013. Community Health was the second preferred specialisation, which is indeed a finding unique to this study; previous studies in India having reported Community Physiotherapy as a neglected profession (Rajan, 2012(Rajan, , 2013. This could again be due to the opportunities that students have at this particular training institute, to gain knowledge and foster their interests (Jeffe et al, 1998;Latimer et al, 2004).…”

“…Community Health is not a preferred area of specialisation among physiotherapy students (Ohman et al, 2002;Rajan, 2012Rajan, , 2013. The awareness about rural rehabilitation among students in different health professions is limited across the globe (Sharifian et al, 2015).…”

Evolution of Community Physiotherapy in India

“…Community Physiotherapy in India needs attention, since there is an imbalance between the demand and supply in this field (Rajan, 2012a(Rajan, , 2012b(Rajan, , 2014. Although this specialisation has been offered for many years, the pool of physiotherapists willing to work with the communities has not increased as per the need.…”

The Application of Focus Group Discussions and Interviews in Community Physiotherapy

“…These discussions helped to understand the prevalent musculoskeletal health issues in this cohort; thereafter, community physiotherapy was recommended for these problems. In an earlier study by Rajan (2012), focus group discussions were used to look into the lacunae in the community physiotherapy system in western India. While focus group discussions and interviews have proved to be effective in understanding community physiotherapy issues, studies on the subject are few.…”