Abstract
BackgroundThe integration of health promotion in the treatment of patients should be included in all academic curricula in primary training of health professionals. However, the extent to which health promotion is included in the various curricula at undergraduate level is not known.ObjectiveTo assess the extent to which health promotion content is integrated in undergraduate physiotherapy training programmes in South Africa.MethodThis was a qualitative and descriptive study, using in-depth interviews with representatives of physiotherapy academic departments.ResultsAll universities have some content of health promotion, with the weighting varying between 12% and 40%. Health promotion is taught at various levels of study, and health promotion training blocks are in both urban and rural settings and include communities, schools and old-age homes. The theories of advocacy, enabling and mediation are covered, but there is limited practical training on these elements. There are limited human resources trained in health promotion, as well as a lack of clear processes of developing and reviewing teaching and training materials.ConclusionThere is lack of consensus on the weighting of health promotion, the level at which it is taught and how it is evaluated across universities. Challenges to integrate health promotion in physiotherapy curricula include lack of frequent curricula reviews, inadequate training of lecturers and lack of conducive practical sites.The physiotherapy profession needs to reach a consensus on minimum standards for integration of health promotion in undergraduate training, and the physiotherapy professional board has the potential to provide the required leadership.
Highlights
As global health resources continue to shrink in relation to population growth, the need for and value of the health promotion and disease prevention approach in health services becomes increasingly important
Seven themes emerged from analysis of the qualitative data: content of health promotion in the curriculum; practical aspects of health promotion training; level at which health promotion is introduced; human resources for teaching health promotion; health promotion aspects that are excluded from the curriculum; assessment of content on health promotion; and challenges to the integration of health promotion in the curriculum
Theme 1: Content of health promotion in the curriculum. This theme identified the content of health promotion, which included health promotion strategies and actions from the Ottawa Charter
Summary
As global health resources continue to shrink in relation to population growth, the need for and value of the health promotion and disease prevention approach in health services becomes increasingly important. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (World Health Organization 1986) has increasingly become a reference for the development, implementation and evaluation of health promotion programmes (Potvin & Jones 2011) This has identified the need to integrate health promotion into the training curricula of various health disciplines. The White Paper on the transformation of health in South Africa (South African Government 1997) requires the training of health professionals to shift towards prevention of disease and promotion of health, and to focus on curative measures This was meant to provide a new approach to the organisation of health services in the country (Pillay 2001). The extent to which health promotion is included in the various curricula at undergraduate level is not known
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