Background and Purpose. Scholarly work and research are universal activities of academic-based and clinical physical therapy faculty. The horizons of research and scholarly productivity could be enriched and broadened by collaborative efforts between faculty in developed and developing countries. Such collaborative research can advance the knowledge base of the profession, provide physical therapists with access to new rehabilitation concepts, and promote an understanding of the professions role in the national health systems in developing countries. The purpose of this case study is to describe recent collaborative research efforts between physical therapy faculty in one US program and academic faculty at a physical therapist education program in Rwanda. In describing these research projects, we demonstrate the benefits of collaboration, describe curricular implications, explore the barriers encountered, and provide suggestions for successful research partnerships. Case Description. Kigali Health Institute (KHI) is the publicly funded institute of higher education at which physiotherapy is taught in Rwanda. The authors describe 3 recent research projects undertaken through collaboration between US physical therapist education program faculty and faculty at KHI. Outcomes. The success of the research projects appeared to depend on the resources and cooperation of both the US and Rwandan partners. Barriers encountered in the 3 projects included obtaining ethics approval, use of clinical staff for data collection, language and translation, participant understanding of the consent process, and resources for data management and analysis. Discussion and Conclusion. Research collaboration with colleagues in a developing country can be meaningful and can result in new information that furthers the profession. These research efforts also can be frustrating, especially if researchers do not anticipate the barriers to completion of a study and do not prepare adequately for the cultural differences and needs of both collaborators and study participants. Key Words: International cooperation, Physical therapy research, Developing countries. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Efforts toward scholarly productivity that can influence the development of physical therapy and rehabilitation are a universal focus of physical therapist educators. International collaborative efforts in scholarship are potentially rich, significant, and vital contributions that could globally support the advancement of the profession, the enhancement of physical therapist education, and activities related to promoting health in lessdeveloped countries. Such collaborations are one initiative that could aid in overcoming the so called gap, in which only 10% of expenditures on health research target the problems of the poorest 90% of the globe.1 The 10/90 gap was documented in 1990 by the independent Commission on Health Research for Development and, though the figures may be outdated, the concept is not, and it continues to be used to describe the imbalance between the resources allocated to the developed versus developing world.2 In response to this imbalance, academics and health professionals have been encouraged by government funding agencies in both the United States (US) and the European Union to pursue border-crossing collaborations.3 In the US, physical therapist education program faculty are urged to engage in scholarly efforts that support the revised Research Agenda for Physical Therapy.4 This agenda, however, was developed with a national bias and, thus, does not address the research imbalance or the potential of achieving a global impact. In the invited commentary on the revised agenda, Winstein5 encouraged the developers to have a more bold vision of research(P174) and consider an agenda that is not limited only to research and researchers in the US. International collaborative research with a focus on developing countries and their problems has been encouraged by many authors, and the efforts, ethics, challenges, and rewards are described with increasing frequency in the biomedical literature. …
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May 28, 2014
Ilias Maglogiannis + 1
Open Access