Many courses aim to promote reflective thinking or reflection upon practice, but there is a scarcity of readily usable instruments to determine whether students engage in reflective thinking and, if so, to what extent. This paper reports the development and testing of such an instrument. To ensure validity, the constructs measured were derived from the extensive literature on reflective thinking, particularly the writing of Mezirow. A combination of the literature review and initial testing led to the development of a four-scale instrument measuring four constructs; habitual action, understanding, reflection and critical reflection. The final version of the instrument was tested with a sample of 303 students from eight classes of a health science faculty. The reliability of the scales was established by acceptable Cronbach alpha values. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit to the proposed four-factor structure. Comparison of mean scores between the eight classes showed predicted significant differences on each of the four scales between undergraduate and postgraduate students.

This document outlines recommendations for physiotherapy management for COVID-19 in the acute hospital setting. It includes: recommendations for physiotherapy workforce planning and preparation; a screening tool for determining requirement for physiotherapy; and recommendations for the selection of physiotherapy treatments and personal protective equipment. It is intended for use by physiotherapists and other relevant stakeholders in the acute care setting caring for adult patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19.

The First Physical Therapy Summit on Global Health was convened at the 2007 World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) Congress to vision practice in the 21st century and, in turn, entry-level education and research, as informed by epidemiological indicators, and consistent with evidence-based noninvasive interventions, the hallmark of physical therapy. The Summit and its findings were informed by WHO data and validated through national databases of the countries of the five WCPT regions. The health priorities based on mortality were examined in relation to proportions of physical therapists practicing in the areas of regional priorities and of the curricula in entry-level programs. As a validation check and to contextualize the findings, input from members of the 800 Summit participants was integrated and international consultants refined the recommendations. Lifestyle-related conditions (ischemic heart disease, smoking-related conditions, hypertension, stroke, cancer, and diabetes) were leading causes of premature death across regions. Contemporary definitions of physical therapy support that the profession has a leading role in preventing, reversing, as well as managing lifestyle-related conditions. The proportions of practitioners practicing primarily in these priority areas and of the entry-level curricula based on these priorities were low. The proportions of practitioners in priority areas and entry-level curricula devoted to lifestyle-related conditions warrant being better aligned with the prevalence of these conditions across regions in the 21st century. A focus on clinical competencies associated with effective health education and health behavior change formulates the basis for The Second Physical Therapy Summit on Global Health.

This randomized controlled trial examined the psychological, physical, and neurophysiological effects of a qigong exercise program on depressed elders with chronic medical illness. The experimental group (n = 21, 80 ± 7 years) was given a 12-week qigong exercise program, while the comparison group (n = 17, 81 ± 8 years) participated in a newspaper reading program with the same duration and frequency. Measurement of depression symptoms, psychosocial functioning, muscle strengths, salivary cortisol, and serum serotonin was conducted. At 12 weeks, the qigong group had significant reduction in depressive symptoms (F = 11.68; p < 0.025). Improvement in self-efficacy (F = 4.30; p < 0.050), self-concept of physical well-being (F = 6.82; p < 0.025), and right-hand grip strength (F = 5.25; p = 0.034) was also found when compared with the comparison group. A change in salivary cortisol level was found marginally insignificant between groups (F = 3.16; p = 0.087). However, a decreasing trend of cortisol level was observed. The results provided preliminary evidence for the hypotheses that the antidepressive effect of qigong exercise could be explained by improvement in psychosocial functioning and possibly down-regulation of hyperactivity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis.