Teaching and Assessing Advocacy in Canadian Physiotherapy Programmes

Advocacy is an essential component of physiotherapy (PT) practice. As a result, universities are expected to teach and assess advocacy-related competencies in their curriculum. The purpose of this study was to explore current educational practices for teaching and assessing advocacy in Canadian PT programmes, barriers to teaching and assessment, and solutions for enhancing educational practices. We used a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. Teachers and coordinators from Canadian PT programmes completed an online survey, and clinical supervisors participated in telephone interviews. We performed descriptive statistics and thematic analyses. Advocacy-related competencies were widely covered in the academic curriculum of the 13 PT programmes represented by our participants, but not all competencies were assessed equally. Barriers to teaching and assessment of advocacy included the lack of role clarity, relevant teaching and assessment strategies, time, and opportunity to practice the role in the curriculum. Students' personal experience and motivation also had an impact. Essential steps toward enhancing educational practices are to clarify the definition of advocacy, guide PT educators in explicitly and concretely teaching and assessing advocacy, develop a staged approach to covering advocacy throughout the curriculum, and normalize advocacy as a PT domain.