#PEDroTacklesBarriers to evidence-based physiotherapy campaign was held between 2022 and 2023 to help physiotherapists tackle the biggest barriers to evidence-based practice. This Blog summarises the background of the campaign, a summary of the barriers addressed in the campaign, and campaign metrics.
This campaign was inspired by a systematic review by Matteo Paci and colleagues that investigated the barriers to evidence-based physiotherapy. The review included 29 studies reporting the opinions of nearly 10,000 physiotherapists. Lack of time was the most frequently encountered barrier and was reported by 53% of physiotherapists. This was followed by language (36%), lack of access (34%), and lack of statistical skills (31%).
The #PEDroTacklesBarriers to evidence-based physiotherapy campaign provided information on tackling the barriers of time, language, lack of access, and lack of statistical skills, as well as real-world examples of how physiotherapists overcame barriers to ensure patients received effective, evidence-based care.
Time: 17 physiotherapists from around the world provided their tips on how they tackle the barrier of time. This included discussing evidence in staff meetings, participating in journal clubs, using time spent commuting to read high-quality evidence, and strategically using social media. See more:
Language: Language is an important barrier to accessing and implementing evidence-based physiotherapy in many countries, with English being the dominant language used to publish and disseminate evidence-based research and guidelines. As part of the #PEDroTacklesBarriers to evidence-based physiotherapy campaign, five physiotherapists and physiotherapy groups shared how they tackled the barrier of language. This included using online services such as Google Translate, helping others by translating PEDro resources in non-English languages, and running journal clubs in English and non-English languages. See more:
Lack of access: To tackle the barrier of lack of access to research, we provided two videos demonstrating how to access full text using links on PEDro and strategies to find full texts using non-PEDro methods. See more:
Lack of statistical skills: A lack of statistical skills is a common barrier to interpreting evidence and implementing evidence-based physiotherapy. As part of the campaign, we share how three clinician-researchers including the Scientific Editor of the Journal of Physiotherapy, tackle the barrier of lack of statistical skills by discussing the methods used to conduct, analyse, report, and interpret randomised controlled trials. See more:
Putting it all together: The final part of the #PEDroTacklesBarriers to evidence-based physiotherapy campaign included success stories of how physiotherapists overcame different barriers to ensure patients received effective, evidence-based care. See more:
Metrics of the #PEDroTacklesBarriers to evidence-based physiotherapy campaign:
- Published in 4 languages on the PEDro website; English, Portuguese, French and Italian
- Featured monthly in the PEDro (English) and PEDrinho (Portuguese) newsletters
- Made 228 social media and blog posts
- Social media and blog posts were viewed by over 150,000 users
- Produced 23 YouTube videos with over 10,000 video views
- Had over 4,000 interactions with posts
The campaign was supported by World Physiotherapy, Australian Physiotherapy Association, Società Italiana di Fisioterapia, Société Française de Physiothérapie, and Koninklijk Nederlands Genootschap voor Fysiotherapie.
PEDro acknowledges Joshua Zadro for coordinating this campaign. We also acknowledge all campaign contributors, translation work from Mariana Nascimento Leite, Junior Vitorino Fandim (Portuguese), Leonardo Pellicciari, Francesco Ferrarello, Michele Marelli, Matteo Paci, Paolo Pillastrini (Italian), Elodie Louvion, Magda Costa Castany, Céline Lesage, Matthieu Guémann and Guillaume Galliou (French), the PEDro Education and Training committee and PEDro production support from Geraldine Wallbank, Courtney West and Anne Moseley.
View all tips from the campaign here:
