Education Scholarship

• Charlotte Anderson
• Roxanne Azoory
• Lisa Caldana
• Lovisa Cheung
• Jaimie Coleman
• Sharon Gabison
• Melanie McKinnon
• Brenda Mori
• Marina Petrevska
• Natalie Pusateri
• Martine Quesnel
• Eric Robitaille
• Meredith Smith
• Sharon Switzer-McIntyre
• Tricia Twogood
• Euson Yeung

Faculty Member: Tricia Twogood

Do physical therapy learners in an integrated curriculum incorporate a broad range of knowledge into their clinical reasoning? This observational cohort study categorizes and compares the reasoning decisions of first- and second-year MScPT students during an embedded clinical assessment, examining whether integrated instruction translates into integrated thinking.

Faculty Members: Eric Robitaille, Sharon Switzer-McIntyre

Physical therapists recognize the importance of exercise prescription, yet research suggests that limitations in knowledge and confidence in this foundational area persist, especially outside of musculoskeletal practice. Clinical Instructors offer mentorship integral to the comprehensive education of physical therapy students; however it is unknown if they have the necessary knowledge and confidence to facilitate competence in exercise prescription. This study will survey Ontario Clinical Instructors to assess their knowledge and confidence in exercise prescription, and explore their recommendations to inform physiotherapy education curriculum.

Faculty Member: Lovisa Cheung

This project aims to develop guidelines for compassionate care delivery in digital environments through an e-survey and qualitative interviews gathering feedback from individuals with spinal cord injury. This work will provide evidence-based recommendations on compassionate care delivery for prospective and current rehabilitation professionals who deliver virtual care.

Faculty Members: Jaimie Coleman, Lisa Wickerson

This project addresses the challenges for physical therapy student learning to make safe and effective decisions for oxygen titration in the context of exercise. The goals of the project are to: 1) develop decision-making scaffolds to support students to consider the breadth of information required for oxygen decisions; and 2) embed the tool within an e-learning module that has a repository of simple to complex cases for students to work through to support student autonomy. 

Faculty Members: Jaimie Coleman, Lisa Wickerson, Marina Petrevska

In early clinical experiences, students often report challenges in communicating with patients who do not follow through with recommendations or express negative emotions. Communication is often perceived by students as task oriented to provide information to the patient with less attention to the patient’s emotions and perspectives, which may contribute to communication challenges. This project seeks to retrospectively review MScPT student reflection following a challenging conversations simulation completed during their cardiorespiratory course to gain insight into physical therapy students’ perspectives of what “good communication” entails.

Faculty Member: Jaimie Coleman

Learners experience challenges managing their effort during on-line learning owing to its flexibility. Research suggests supporting students to identify discrepancies in their learning may support their effort investment. Using a 3-arm experimental design, this project aims to advance the understanding of if and how learning objectives and/or pre-tests impact student learning outcomes and if interest is a mediating factor. Students will complete an e-learning module on frailty and/or diagnostic imaging (low vs high interest). We will collect learning analytics and knowledge acquisition to compare groups. 

Faculty Member: Meredith Smith

This scoping review explores multi-campus education, including program descriptions, pedagogical designs, challenges and recommendations. The findings of this scoping review will inform academic programs that are implementing, planning or refining multi-campus models of education.

Faculty Member: Brenda Mori

The Canadian Physiotherapy Assessment of Clinical Performance (ACP) is a measure used to assess Canadian students’ performance in clinical placements. Looking at longitudinal ACP data across Canada, we learned that the ACP 2.0 demonstrates strong internal consistency, and construct validity. Additionally, performance trajectories demonstrate that students in Canadian physiotherapy programs typically achieve entry to practice or near entry to practice ratings in all assessment domains by their final placement.

Faculty Member: Euson Yeung

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought Long COVID to the forefront, revealing lasting, infection‑associated chronic conditions that impair function and quality of life. Individuals may present to rehabilitation with complex, fluctuating symptoms requiring specialized care. This study uses a Delphi process to identify core rehabilitation competencies for safe, effective care, informing curricula and improving outcomes for people living with Long COVID.

• Jasdeep Dhir PT MClSc(MT), TDPT, Tricia Twogood PT, MClSc(MT), Zeal Kadakia PT, MSc, Melanie MacKinnon PT, MClSc(MT), Gregory Spadoni PT, MSc, Sharon Switzer-McIntyre PT, MEd, PhD, Euson Yeung  PT MEd PhD. Safety Related Curriculum in Physiotherapy and other Entry- Level Health Professions Education: A Scoping Review. Physiotherapy Canada. (IN PRINT)
• Mandel N, Durham T, Weigel L, Young J, Purvis M, Okorosobo S, Yeung E, MacKinnon M. Exploring Ontario’s Physical Therapy recent graduates’ experience with resilience in the first few years of clinical practice. Physiotherapy Canada. Published online advanced access: December 19^th, 2024 https://doi.org/10.3138/ptc-2023-0034
• Coleman, J., Dhir, J., Kobylianski, J., Coughlan, L., Law, M., Pereira, D., & Beavers, L. (2026). The use of simulation as a component of clinical education in health professional entry to practice programmes. Physiotherapy Canada, 78(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.3138/ptc-2023-0099
• Coleman, J., Langlois, S., Switzer-McIntyre, S., Mylopoulos, M., Tassone, M., & Vehter, A. (2024). Continuing Professional Development in Response to COVID-19: Knowledge Mobilization for Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy via a Curated Web Site. Physiotherapy Canada, 76(1):95-100 https://doi.org/10.3138/ptc-2021-010
• Muirhead T, Emmanuel U, Khoshnevisan P, Sanderson M, Sidhu P, Mori B, Quesnel M. Balancing the Scales: Factors Shaping Physical Therapy Clinical Education Capacity. Physiotherapy Canada. 2024 Nov 1(aop):e20240008.
• Hall M, Bostick G, Page R, Mori B. Are Canadian Physiotherapy Graduates Ready for Private Practice? Faculty, Employer, and Recent Graduate Perspectives. Physiotherapy Canada. 2024 Apr 5:e20230064.
• Gastle NM, Porreca MA, Aarts MM, Patel H, Smith SG, Underwood GM, Coleman J, Mori B, Musselman KE. Exploring the Experiences and Impacts of Research Role-Emerging Placements in Physiotherapy. Physiotherapy Canada. 2023 Aug 1;75(3):246-54.

• Abrams T, Thille P, Gibson BE. Disability, affect theory, and the politics of breathing: The case of muscular dystrophy. Subjectivity. 2021 Dec: 14: 201-217. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41286-021-00125-0.
• Coleman, J., Knott, K., & Jung, B. (2021). Impact of physical therapy and occupational therapy student placements on productivity: a scoping review. Canadian Medical Education Journal. 12(4): 98-110 DOI: https://doi.org/10.36834/cmej.69298
• Diermayr G, Schomberg M, Barthelmesa L, Greisbergerb A, Elsner B, Salbach NM. Current practice of physical therapists in outpatient stroke rehabilitation: a cross-sectional survey in Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia [German]. International Journal of Health Professions 2021, 8(1):48-59. Available from: DOI: 10.2478/ijhp-2021-0005.
• Gastle NMJ, Porreca MA, Aarts MM, Patel H, Smith SGVS, Underwood GM, Coleman J, Mori B, Musselman KE. Exploring the experiences and impacts of research role-emerging placements in physiotherapy. Physiotherapy Canada. https://doi.org/10.3138/ptc-2021-0085
• Hall M, Mori B, Norman K,Proctor P, Murphy S, Bredy H. How Do I Choose a Job? Factors Influencing the Career and Employment Decisions of Physiotherapy Graduates in Canada. Physiotherapy Canada, 2021 73(2):168-77.
• Hassan, S, Stevens, B, Watt-Watson, J, Switzer- McIntyre, S, Flannery, J, Furlan, A. (2022) Development and Initial Evaluation of Psychometric Properties of a Pain Competence Assessment Tool (PCAT).  The Journal of Pain, Volume 23, Issue 3, March 2022, Pages 398-410
• Jagroop D, Houvardas S, Danells CJ, Kochanowski J, French E, Salbach NM, Musselman K, Inness EL, Mansfield A. Rehabilitation clinicians’ perspectives of reactive balance training. Disabil Rehabil. 2021 Nov 23;1-7. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2021.2004246.
• Jervis Rademeyer H, Gauthier C, Zariffa J, Walden K, McCullum S, Jeji T, Musselman KE. Using activity-based therapy for individuals with spinal cord injury or disease: the perspectives of physical and occupational therapists in rehabilitation hospitals. Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine. 2022 Mar 29:1-11. doi: 10.1080/10790268.2022.2039855. Epub ahead of print.
• Miller E, Brooks D, O’Brien KK, Beavers L, Stratford P, Nonoyama M, & Mori B. (2022). Assessing the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of the Physical Therapy Competence Assessment for Airway Suctioning (PT-CAAS). Physiotherapy Research International, e1944. https://doi.org/10.1002/pri.1944  
• Miller E, Brooks D, O’Brien KK, Beavers L, Stratford P, Nonoyama M, Mori B. Assessing the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of the Physical Therapy Competence Assessment for Airway Suctioning (PT-CAAS).  Physiotherapy Research International.  Published Online: February 17, 2022.  http://doi.org/10.1002/pri.1944.
• Peters MDJ, Marnie C, Colquhoun H, Garritty CM, Hempel S, Horsley T, Langlois EV, Lillie E, O’Brien KK, Tuncalp O, Wilson MG, Zarin W, Tricco AC. Scoping Reviews: Reinforcing and Advancing the Methodology and Application. Systematic Reviews 10, 263 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-021-01821-3.  Published October 8, 2021.
• Romney W, Salbach NM, Parrott JS, Deutsch JE. A knowledge broker facilitated intervention to improve the use of assessment tools by physical therapists: a cluster randomized trial. Clinical Rehabilitation, 2021. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34694155/
• Salbach NM, McDonald A, MacKay-Lyons M, Bulmer B, Howe J, Bayley MT, McEwen S, Nelson M, Solomon P. Experiences of physical therapists and professional leaders with implementing a toolkit to advance walking assessment post-stroke: A realist evaluation. Physical Therapy, 2021. DOI: 10.1093/ptj/pzab232.
• Wegrzyn, P, Evans, C, Janczyn, G, Judge, J, Lu, R, Manji, R, Gray, J, Smith, M, Nixon, SA. A Reorientation of Belief: Considerations for Increasing the Recruitment of Black Students into Canadian physiotherapy programs. J Hum Rehabil. 2021. https://www.jhrehab.org/2021/11/05/a-reorientation-of-belief-considerations-for-increasing-the-recruitment-of-black-students-into-canadian-physiotherapy-programs/. Accessed May 30, 2022. 
• Wojkowski S, Norman KE, Stratford P, Mori B. Physiotherapy Students’ Performance in Clinical Education: An Analysis of 1 Year of Canadian Cross-Sectional Data. Physiotherapy Canada. 2021 Nov 1;73(4):358-67.
• Yeung E, Salbach NM, Scodras S, Kothari A, Graham I. Identifying competencies for integrated knowledge translation: a delphi study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2021 Oct 30;21(1):1181. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-07107-7
• Yeung E., Gibson B.E., Kuper A., Shaw J., Nixon S. ‘Making strange’: Exploring the development of students’ capacity in epistemic reflexivity. 2021 April 30 (electronic journal). Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation. https://www.jhrehab.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Yeung_Making-Strange_Spring-2021.pdf