Developing a revised definition of the Bobath concept: Phase three

To develop a revised definition of the Bobath concept that incorporates the perspectives of members of the International Bobath Instructors Training Association (IBITA).

A three-phase consensus building design utilizing (i) focus groups; (ii) survey methods; and, (iii) real-time Delphi. This paper presents the findings from the real-time Delphi, an iterative process to collect and synthesize expert opinions anonymously, provide controlled feedback, with the overall goal of achieving consensus.

One hundred and twenty-one IBITA members participated in the real-time Delphi. Over three Delphi Rounds, consensus was reached on six overarching conceptual statements and 11 statements representing unique aspects of Bobath clinical practice. One statement that aimed to describe the Bobath clinical term of "placing" was eliminated in Round One due to participant reservations that a text description was insufficient for this term. Seven statements underwent minor wording revisions in Round Two and Three to improve sentence clarity.

Using the real-time Delphi, we were successful in gaining consensus in an expert group on a series of statements on which a revised definition of the Bobath concept could be based.