Ab. No. 132 Phenomenological Exploration of Ethical Challenges Faced by Physiotherapy Professionals During Research Supervision: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Introduction: Although ethical guidelines are available, they are not always followed during physiotherapy research. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the experiences of academic professionals in physiotherapy regarding ethical issues while supervising research conducted by physiotherapy students and scholars. Physiotherapy professionals working in academia often face ethical challenges when guiding their postgraduate students in their research responsibilities. However, there is a lack of published literature on these issues in India and our region. Methods: Ten faculty members from recognized physiotherapy teaching institutions with minimum 10 years in permanent teaching position and at least 5 years as recognized postgraduate supervisors. The phenomenological qualitative study design was implemented to conduct in-depth semi-structured interviews with 10 physiotherapy faculty members using both face-to-face (n=1) and telephone interview methods (n=9) till data saturation. Word-to-word verbatim of transcribed audio recordings were used in inductive thematic analysis. Trustworthiness/ Research rigor was determined according to Lincoln and Guba, which includes credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability are the elements of trustworthiness used to enhance rigor in the study. Word cloud and frequency chart were used to highlight the study findings. Results: Five themes with 50 sub-themes/categories were identified. Identified five themes (1) Ethical concerns, (2) Informed consent form, (3) Data collection, management, and analysis, (4) Scientific misconduct, and (5) Publication ethics. Conclusion: Physiotherapy professionals are facing ethical issues due to fabrication, confidentiality, pay and publish for promotion/degree, signature forgery in ICF, not adhering to authorship criteria, and other issues. To improve research quality, faculty must minimize these issues during supervision. Implications: Physiotherapy professionals should prioritize ethical adherence and be vigilant in identifying malpractices during their research supervision.