Physiotherapy - Journal Articles
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Item Effects of aquatic exercises in woman who have undergone surgery after breast cancer: a systematic review with meta-analysis(Elsevier, 2025-09-01) Silva, Carla T.; Silva, Claudia K.; Casonatto, Juliano; Carrasco, Aline Cristina; McVeigh, Joseph G.; Cardoso, Jefferson RosaBackground. Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women, with an incidence of 310,720 new cases for the year 2024. In addition to survival, quality of life has become an important outcome measure in BC clinical investigations. Objective. To evaluate the effects of aquatic exercises (AE) on quality of life (QoL), lymphedema, pain, fatigue, and range of motion in breast cancer survivors compared to land exercise and a control group. Design. Systematic review. Ten databases were searched from inception until February 2024. Risk of bias and certainty of evidence were assessed using the Risk of Bias 2 tool and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Pooled effects were calculated using standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95 % confidence interval (CI). Results. A total of 1873 studies were identified, 10 were included in the review and four were included in a meta-analyses. Only 30 % (n=3) of the studies were classified as having a low risk of bias. The effect of AE on the emotional subdomains of the QoL was superior to usual care (SMD=0.58, 95 % CI: 0.1, 0.9; I²=0 %) but the certainty of evidence was rated as very low. When AE was compared with land exercise, no significant differences were found for pain (SMD=1.1; 95 % CI: 1.5, 3.7; I²=97 %) with the certainty of evidence graded as low. Conclusions: Although further studies of high methodological quality are needed to provide more robust conclusions, AE may improve QoL outcome and emotional subdomain (ES=0.58) compared to usual care, but the evidence is very uncertain.Item “Understanding dementia together”: The design, delivery and evaluation of a collaborative, inter-professional dementia workshop for healthcare students(SAGE Publications Ltd, 2025) O’Sullivan, Trish; Moore, Niamh; McVeigh, Joseph G.; Timmons, Suzanne; Foley, TonyBackground: A collaborative, multi-disciplinary team input is crucial for the optimal management of the older adult with complex care needs such as dementia. Interprofessional learning (IPL) at undergraduate level can lead to improved collaborative knowledge and skills. The aim of this study was to develop, deliver and evaluate an IPL dementia workshop for healthcare students across 11 disciplines. A secondary aim was to determine whether there is a clinical application of learned knowledge in students who completed the workshop and subsequently underwent clinical placement. Methods: The design of the IPL workshop aligned with Kern’s map for the development of a curriculum in medical education. The Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS) was used to assess students’ knowledge of dementia pre-and-post workshop, as well as opened-ended questions on role recognition and communication. Results: A total of 102 students completed the workshop questionnaire, with a follow up of 47 students on clinical placement. There was a statistically significant increase in students’ knowledge and confidence levels in communication with a person with dementia. Students reported positively on the workshop format, the collaborative nature of the workshop, as well as the role of the patient advocate. The follow up of students on clinical placement showed a perceived behavioural change in communication modification. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates the benefits of an IPL initiative across multiple disciplines, with perceived behavioural change on clinical placement. © The Author(s) 2024.Item Patients’ perceptions and experience of hospital-based, student-led physiotherapy treatment interventions: A survey(IOS Press, 2024-12-06) Cole, Aaron; Lombard, Eileen; Brennan, Roisin; O’Sullivan, Trish; O’Shea, Aidan; McVeigh, Joseph G.BACKGROUND: Clinical education (CE) is an integral part of physiotherapy degree programmes. CE presents a unique learning opportunity for students to implement classroom-based teaching directly with patients and clients. Despite patients being central to CE, limited research exists around patients’ opinions of CE and the impact of student involvement in patient care. To our knowledge, there has been no study exploring patient perceptions of being treated by student physiotherapists in Ireland. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of patients who have been assessed and treated by pre-registration MSc Physiotherapy students. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional survey study, involving both quantitative and qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: A total of 42 inpatient participants male n = 24 (57%) female n = 18 (43%) with 30 participants (71%) aged ≥70 were included in this study. All participants reported satisfaction with the treatment received by a student physiotherapist and reported they would avail of further treatments in the future. The benefits identified from interaction of participants with physiotherapy students included patient education and interpersonal skills. No disadvantages of being assessed and treated by a student physiotherapist were identified. Considerations for improvements identified included timing of physiotherapy sessions, frequency of sessions and the consideration of use of technology with patients. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified that all participants were very satisfied from receiving treatment interventions led by a student physiotherapist. Increased patient education and interpersonal skills were highlighted as key advantages from participants being assessed and treated by a student physiotherapist in clinical practice.Item Dual tasking interferes with dynamic balance in young and old healthy adults(IOS Press, 2021-01-11) Sulaiman, Amal Al-Shaikh; Kelly, Marie; O’Connor, Mairead; Bamiou, Doris-Eva; Pavlou, Marousa; Ménière’s Society, UKBACKGROUND: Functional mobility requires an ability to adapt to environmental factors together with an ability to execute a secondary task simultaneously while walking. A complex dual-tasking gait test may provide an indication of functional ability and falls risk among community-dwelling older adults. PURPOSE: The aim of this cross-sectional study is to investigate age-related differences in dual-tasking ability and to evaluate whether dual-tasking ability is related to executive function. METHODS: Forty-one community-dwelling healthy older and forty-one younger adults completed a dual-tasking assessment in which concurrent tasks were incorporated into the Functional Gait Assessment (FGA). The manual dual-task involved carrying a glass of water (FGA-M) while the cognitive dual-tasks involved numeracy (FGA-N) and literacy (FGA-L) related tasks. FGA scores under single (FGA-S) and dual-task conditions together with associated dual-task costs and response accuracy were determined. Executive function was assessed using The Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS). RESULTS: FGA-N and FGA-L scores were adversely affected in both groups compared to FGA-S (p≤0.001). However, score reductions and dual-task costs were significantly greater for older adults compared to younger adults on FGA-N (p≤0.05) and FGA-L (p≤0.001), with older adult performance on FGA-N associated with falls risk (p≤0.05). Executive function did not appear to be related to dual-tasking ability. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that cognitively demanding tasks while walking, have a deleterious effect on dynamic balance and could place older adults at a greater risk of falls.Item A telephone assessment and advice service within an ED physiotherapy clinic: a single-site quality improvement cohort study(AboutScience Srl, 2021) Kelly, Marie; Higgins, Anna; Murphy, Adrian; McCreesh, KarenBackground: In response to issues with timely access and high non-attendance rates for Emergency Department(ED) physiotherapy, a telephone assessment and advice service was evaluated as part of a quality improvementproject. This telehealth option requires minimal resources, with the added benefit of allowing the healthcareprofessional streamline care. A primary aim was to investigate whether this service model can reduce wait timesand non-attendance rates, compared to usual care. A secondary aim was to evaluate service user acceptability.Methods: This was a single-site quality improvement cohort study that compares data on wait time to firstphysiotherapy contact, non-attendance rates and participant satisfaction between patients that opted for a servicebased on initial telephone assessment and advice, versus routine face-to-face appointments. 116 patients werereferred for ED physiotherapy over the 3-month pilot at the ED and out-patient physiotherapy department, XMercyUniversity Hospital, Cork, Ireland. 91 patients (78%) opted for the telephone assessment and advice service, with40% (n=36) contacting the service. 25 patients (22%) opted for the face-to-face service. Data on wait time and non-attendance rates was gathered using the hospital data reporting system. Satisfaction data was collected ondischarge using a satisfaction survey adapted from the General Practice Assessment Questionnaire. Independent-samples t-test or Mann Whitney U Test was utilised depending on the distribution of the data. For categorical data,Chi-Square tests were performed. A level of significance ofp≤0.05 was set for this study.Results: Those that contacted the telephone assessment and advice service had a significantly reduced wait time(median 6 days; 3–8 days) compared to those that opted for usual care (median 35 days; 19–39 days) (p≤0.05).There was no significant between-group differences for non-attendance rates or satisfaction.Conclusion: A telephone assessment and advice service may be useful in minimising delays for advice for thosereferred to ED Physiotherapy for musculoskeleltal problems. This telehealth option appears to be broadlyacceptable and since it can be introduced rapidly, it may be helpful in triaging referrals and minimising face-to-faceconsultations, in line with COVID-19 recommendations. However, a large scale randomised controlled trial iswarranted to confirm these findings.