Cardiff University are looking to recruit 8-12 physiotherapists for a research study.
This study is closed.
Are you a physiotherapist working in the United Kingdom who has some experience in working with Huntington's disease?
Study aim
- To determine how physiotherapy services for Huntington's disease are organised in the UK
- To determine if there is a know-do gap in implementing Huntington's disease guidelines in the UK
- To determine and develop activities and/or resources that will support physiotherapists to develop expertise in Huntington's disease
Inclusion criteria:
- Experience of working with people with Huntington's disease
- Conversant in English
Exclusion criteria:
- Unable to access to good quality internet connection
- Unable to access to a private space for an interview
How to take part
If you are a physiotherapist and would like to take part on the study, please contact Una Jones for further information. Taking part in the study involves being interviewed for approximately 45- 60 minutes in a quiet private space. This will be in your own time and not on NHS premises. In the interview, we will discuss service provision for people with Huntington's disease, use of physiotherapy guidelines in practice and ways in which resources for physiotherapists could be developed.
Contact Una Jones to take part.
More about the study
Physiotherapy guidelines for the management of Huntington’s disease were published in 2020 (Quinn et al. 2020) yet it is not known if physiotherapists in the United Kingdom (UK) are aware of and/or are implementing the guidelines in practice. A small global survey of physiotherapists (Jones et al. 2022) identified that a physiotherapist’s expertise in Huntington's disease was one of a number of facilitators to implementing guidelines in practice and therefore creative approaches are needed to support physiotherapists to develop expertise in this rare condition. A Knowledge to Action study design will be used to develop activities and/or resources that will support physiotherapists in the UK in implementing the Huntington's disease guidelines.
The first phase of the study aligns with the following phases of the Knowledge to Action cycle: Determine the Know/Do gap, Identify review and select knowledge. In this first phase, 8-12 physiotherapists will be interviewed to gather information on the service that they provide for people with Huntington's disease, their knowledge and use of the physiotherapy guidelines and ways in which resources could be developed for physiotherapists.
Data collected from Phase one will be used to identify, review and select appropriate methods for developing physiotherapists’ expertise in Huntington's. The research team and a learning technologist will complete Phase two of the study to develop activities and/or resources for physiotherapists in the UK.
A future study will further this work through the next phases of the Knowledge to Action framework i.e. adapting to local context, tailoring for implementation and monitoring and evaluation of use of activities/resources.