Blended-learning in Physiotherapy: Professional Ethics

May 9, 2023 updated by: Elena Marques-Sule, University of Valencia

Effect of a Blended-learning Programme on Physiotherapy Students´ Attitude, Knowledge and Opinions Towards Learning Professional Ethics.

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a blended-learning model on physiotherapy students´ attitude, knowledge and opinions towards learning professional ethics.

A simple-blind clinical trial was performed. An eight-month blended learning program to teach professional ethics in clinical practices was worked out. An online syllabus and online activities were elaborated, whilst face to face active participation techniques were performed to discuss ethical issues detected among practices. Students´ attitudes, knowledge and opinions towards learning professional ethics were assessed. Non-parametric tests were carried out. All the participants were informed about the study and procedures, and provided written informed consent.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Participants. 139 third-year degree students of Physiotherapy Degree at the University, aged between 20 and 30 years, were recruited voluntarily from September 2010 to July 2011. All enrolled participants were informed of the purpose of the study and procedures, and provided written informed consent. The study was carried out at the institution where the authors belong.

Research design. A prospective simple-blind trial was performed. After baseline assessment, participants were allocated to one of the two groups (control group, n=65; experimental group, n=64). An external assistant not involved in the study performed assignment.

Intervention. A Physiotherapy professor with over-10-year experience in Ethics and Physiotherapy performed the teaching methodology. She opened the allocation envelopes and applied the teaching methodology to the EG according to the group assignment. The intervention consisted of an eight-month blended-learning program based in professional ethics, including two phases: A) online syllabus and online activities (4 months); and B) face to face group sessions (4 months).

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
130

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • To study the physical therapy degree at the University of Valencia

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Exclusion criterion was having prior training on Ethics subject

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Other: control group
Physiotherapy students
Other: control group

Control group followed clinical practices in hospital centers during 8 months as usual.

In the control group, case study method was also used, thus students in control group had to create and perform a public exposition of a real clinical case about professional ethics. Cases had to be related to clinical practices in order to recognize ethical situations in the work environment. Neither online learning nor online activities were carried out.
Experimental: experimental group
Physiotherapy students
Other: blended-learning in ethics

Experimental group followed clinical practices in hospital centers during 8 months.

In addition, an online specific syllabus about Professional Ethics was developed. It consisted of 6 themes and included topics as moral values, ethics and moral, bioethics and professional ethics, ecc. Six online related activities were created: to solve situations related to real clinical practices. Six face to face group sessions based on cooperative learning were planned in order to discuss ethical issues detected among clinical practices during 4 months. Students were divided in small groups, 4-5 participants each, and active participation techniques were used.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Attitude towards learning professional ethics
Time Frame: 8 months
Attitude towards learning professional ethics was measured. A self-reported questionnaire of 33 items (the "Attitudes Questionnaire towards Professional Ethics in Physiotherapy", AQPEPT) was previously described by Aguilar-Rodríguez et al. A high reliability (Cronbach's alpha=0.898) was obtained. All items of the AQPEPT approached to the one-dimensionality needed in cases where attitudes are analyzed.The higher score indicated the best attitude.
8 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Knowledge towards learning professional ethics
Time Frame: 4 months, 8 months
Knowledge towards learning professional ethics was assessed. A self-reported questionnaire of 19 items (the "Perceptions about Knowledge regarding Professional Ethics in Physiotherapy", PKPEP , Cronbach's alpha=0,760) was previously described by Marques-Sule et al. The higher score indicated the best knowledge.
4 months, 8 months
Opinions about the blended-learning programme.
Time Frame: 4 months, 8 months
Students´ opinions about the blended-learning programme were measured. Opinions about the online learning were assessed by a questionnaire comprised of eight dichotomous questions and one open question. The eight dichotomous questions aimed at evaluating if the syllabus, activities and communication system (Virtual Classroom) were considered as useful tools or not. No central options were provided to induce students to choose a positive or negative answer. Moreover, the open question aimed at adding any personal comment about the methodology. Secondly, opinions about the methodology used in the face-to-face group sessions were assessed by a questionnaire comprised of five items and one open question. Several questions about the blended-learning program were proposed: methodology of the face-to-face learning (2 items), methodology used along the study (3 items), and an open question about how to improve the teaching of professional ethics.
4 months, 8 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Valencia

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Marta Aguilar Rodriguez

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
September 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
February 1, 2011

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
June 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
July 25, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
August 1, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
August 7, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 11, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 9, 2023

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
May 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 45/FO/18/2010

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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