Educational and Resource Needs of Pelvic Health Physiotherapists: Context Matters

Evidence on health system challenges mostly relate to high-income countries. Lack of context-specific knowledge, educational opportunities, and access to resources among pelvic health care providers could be barriers to effective implementation of pelvic health services in South Africa. The aim of this study was to determine the patient and therapist profile, and the educational and resource needs of pelvic health physiotherapists in South Africa.

Ninety-five pelvic health physiotherapists, recruited over 6 months, participated in a cross-sectional study during 2022-2023. Participants completed a REDCap survey covering the stipulated domains. Frequencies, percentages, and Chi-squared tests were used for data analysis.

The majority were employed in the private sector (n = 72; 75.8%) and had undergraduate training in pelvic health (n = 86; 89.5%); mostly in pre- and postnatal care (n = 69; 72.6%). Urinary incontinence was the most frequently seen condition (n = 81; 85.3%). Conditions were seen very seldom (n = 46; 48.4%) and most participants treated < 5 patients per month (n = 75; 78.9%), did not have patient educational material available (n = 58; 61.1%), preferred hard-copy formats (63.8%, n = 60), whereas 94.7% (n = 90) felt that there is a lack of patient resources. Participants (n = 66; 69.5%) indicated a need for educational opportunities for clinicians.

This study highlights the contextualising of educational and resource needs in mid- to low-income countries, such as South Africa, which might be contrary to common beliefs and practices.