Physiotherapy - Journal Articles
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Item A scoping review of frameworks evaluating digital health applications(Sage, 2025-08-14) Deegan, Orla; Ó Riain, Eoghan; Martin, Denis; Yoshitani, Mai; O'Donoghue, Mairead; Smart, Keith; McMahon, Sinéad; O’Sullivan, Trish; O’Sullivan, Declan J.; Cole, Aaron; Hanrahan, Ciara; Blake, Catherine; McVeigh, Joseph G.; Fullen, Brona M.; Murphy, David; Interreg North-West Europe; European CommissionObjectives Despite rapid technological advances, the adoption and deployment of digital health and virtual reality (VR) applications in healthcare appears to be progressing slowly. This scoping review is part of the Scale-Up4Rehab (SU4R) project, which aims to create a virtual rehabilitation clinic hosting high-quality digital health interventions. The aim of this review was to identify existing high-quality digital health evaluation frameworks, and from these, extract criteria to inform a new set of guidelines for assessing the applications that will be hosted on the SU4R platform. Methods The review followed Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework and was reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A search strategy that included relevant keywords encompassing the domains of interest; digital health, evaluation frameworks and digital health applications was created between January 2007 and December 2023, across seven medical and computer science databases. Data from each study were extracted by a team of four reviewers using a customized data extraction tool. Results The review included 18 frameworks from 11 countries, incorporating 775 criteria. Nine evaluation frameworks were identified from the included papers (n=12) and a further nine frameworks from grey literature. The criteria were grouped into 19 categories, with the largest proportion of identified criteria grouped into the categories 'Data Security and Privacy' and 'Validation'. Conclusion The criteria extracted from the reviewed frameworks will contribute to the creation of a comprehensive evaluation framework. This new evaluation framework will form part of the approval process for the SU4R Virtual Rehabilitation Clinic. This will facilitate a rigorous selection process for the digital health and VR applications to be hosted on the virtual clinic.Item Trunk strength and endurance testing in field-athletes: a reliability study(Elsevier, 2025-07-28) Dekkers, Thomas A.; Blake, Catherine; Collins, Kieran D.; McVeigh, Joseph G.; O'Sullivan, Kieran J.Objectives Despite the important role of the trunk muscles in athletic performance and the onset of injury, consensus is lacking as to the best methods to assess trunk strength and endurance in athletic populations in the field. This study aimed to examine the intra-rater reliability of a battery of trunk strength and endurance tests. Design Test-retest reliability study. Setting Isometric trunk strength using a hand-held dynamometer (HHD) and isometric trunk endurance using the McGill protocol and novel ‘long-lever’ tests were evaluated. Participants Twenty-three male field-athletes. Main Outcome MeasuresL: Intra-class coefficient (ICC) and standard error of measurement (SEM). Results For relative reliability, good to excellent results were found for all HHD strength tests (ICC = 0.70-0.91). Relative reliability for trunk endurance tests showed excellent results for the McGill protocol (ICC = 0.80-0.89) and moderate to excellent reliability for the long-lever tests (ICC = 0.57-0.96). The V-Sit endurance test and the isometric lateral flexion strength test showed lower absolute reliability, with relatively high SEM values. Conclusions Therefore, we recommend practitioners assess athlete trunk function by using a HHD to evaluate isometric flexion, extension and rotation trunk strength and the Biering-Sørenson, and long-lever lateral flexion and flexion tests to assess trunk endurance.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.