Teaching person-centred practice in physiotherapy curricula: a literature review

Background: There is a growing expectation that healthcare should focus on the needs of the individual patient with the philosophy of person-centred practice as the central model for care delivery. Given the importance of person-centred practice, there is a need to understand how curricula are preparing physiotherapy students for working in a person-centred manner. Objectives: The aim of this literature review was to explore empirical studies relating to educational interventions to teach person-centred practice in physiotherapy pre-qualifying curricula. Methods: A systematic search was conducted across six electronic bibliographic databases to identify relevant studies. Data were extracted and analysed with thematic and narrative synthesis. Results: A total of 1621 studies were identified through the search strategy and screened against the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria (five qualitative, two quantitative, and one mixed methods). Three themes were identified from the student perspective on the educational interventions: positive impact on learning; creating a safe, authentic, person-centred learning environment; and challenges in changing views. Quantitative studies suggested the interventions enhanced learning on person-centred practice. Conclusions: A wide range of educational interventions were used to teach person-centred practice which appeared to have a positive impact on student learning and led to a greater sensitivity of person-centred practice. Further research is needed to understand whether educational interventions to teach person-centred practice translate to changed behaviour in clinical practice to the benefits of those receiving physiotherapy services.