How Can Physical Therapists Engage the Social Ecology of Health to Mitigate Service Disruptions in a Post-COVID World?

Abstract

The role for physical therapists related to addressing the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis is still crystallizing in acute and post-acute settings. It is not too early to begin learning from the recent unprecedented disruptions in physical therapists' ability to provide care related to public health orders for infection control. Emerging evidence suggests that disruptions to health services, such as COVID infections and outcomes, are associated with various population characteristics. These observations suggest the importance of multilevel strategies for physical therapists to mitigate future service disruptions. The purpose of this perspective is to propose a set of practice, research, and advocacy imperatives using the social–ecological model of health. The viewpoint describes the model and then applies it to COVID-related health service disruptions. The perspective then culminates in a specific set of practice, research, and policy recommendations that can be applied to the current experience with COVID-19 and also potential future sources of service disruption, such as future epidemics and climate change.