Ethics, NarrativeNCT05984225
Impact of an Online Program in Ethics in Physiotherapy
A study testing Online learning in people with Ethics, Narrative, run by University of Valencia at 1 site in Spain.
Trial summary
Given the continuing ethical problems faced by physiotherapists, improving their students' ethical competence is relevant. The development of ethical decision-making skills is particularly important for students preparing to enter professional health careers like physiotherapy. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Any ageHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Ethics, Narrative
- What is being tested?
- Online learning
- Type of treatment
- Injection or infusion
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 126 participants
- Where
- 1 siteSpain
- Study dates
- 1 Jan 2021to 31 Dec 2021
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages Any age
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- To be studying the Physiotherapy Degree at the University of Valencia.
Who cannot join
- Not willing to participate.
- Students with previous ethics training.
- Not willing to provide the written consent.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
Spain1 site
Faculty of Physiotherapy of the University of Valencia
Valencia, 46010
About this study
Official title: Assessing the Impact of an Online Program Regarding Professional Ethics in Physiotherapy. A Prospective Clinical Trial
Given the continuing ethical problems faced by physiotherapists, improving their students' ethical competence is relevant. The development of ethical decision-making skills is particularly important for students preparing to enter professional health careers like physiotherapy. According to the Bologna process, the education of physiotherapists includes the cultivation of relevant generic/transversal competencies, including ethical competence. To achieve this, diverse teaching, learning, assessment, and feedback strategies are necessary and helpful in facilitating the acquisition of these competencies.
The physiotherapist needs to carry out ethics efficiently through ethical reasoning and critical thinking to develop ethical decision-making abilities. Active learning methods allow us to get students to follow the highest ethical standards and successfully manage ethical situations in the workplace. Despite some studies showing physiotherapists have a deficit in clinical practice ethics.
Read more
However, there is a lack of research focusing on online learning (OL) physiotherapy ethics education, and studies of review on mixed health professionals many times do not include physiotherapy studies.
Considering this, the primary objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of an OL program in developing ethical competence in physiotherapy students. Specifically, the study aims to evaluate the impact of the program on generic competences, knowledge acquisition, ethical sensitivity, engagement, and instructional design within the OL environment.
- Conditions
- Ethics, Narrative
- Being tested
- Online learning
- Keywords
- Learning, Ethics, Students, Knowledge, Physiotherapy
- Medical subject headings
- Narration
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Online learningOther
The students performed a 10-week Online Learning (OL) program based on Professional Ethics. The program included:
- Synchronous learning (1 session/week, 1 hour each).
- Asynchronous learning: i) OL classes were recorded; ii) Moodle platform: for read breaking news, upload tasks or solve any doubt they may have through discussion forums; iii) An OL specific syllabus that consisted of five themes from the ethics knowledge; iv) An OL glossary, including the concept, explanation of the concept, and source; v) Bullet-point videos highlighting the most important issues of each theme; vi) Podcasts about Professional Ethics, Ethics in physiotherapy; vii) Links to websites; viii) Gamification using mobile Apps regarding ethical decision-making, healthcare, and Ethics or Professional Ethics, as well as an OL crossword; ix) OL activities were created and personalized comments about the activities were reported by the teachers to give feedback to the students.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Physiotherapy students | Experimental | Physiotherapy students of the 2nd course of the Grade of Physiotherapy of the University of Valencia. Receives: Other: Online learning |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Generic competencies
Questionnaire for the Evaluation of Generic Comeptences in Univesity Students. It is a 45-item instrument with a Likert scale from 1 = always to 6 = rarely, thus lower scores mean higher generic competencies. The internal consistency of this questionnaire is 0,92. Several competencies are assessed: 1) instrumental competencies (Job performance, Management skills); 2) systematic competencies (Leadership, Work motivation, Learning capabilities; 3) interpersonal competence (Interpersonal relationships and teamwork).
Measured: 0 week, 5 week, 10 week
Secondary outcomes (4)
Knowledge acquisition of Professional ethics
measured with a multiple-choice knowledge test. The test included fifteen multiple choice questions that assessed basic professional ethics concepts that physiotherapy students are required to know, such as moral values, ethics; bioethics and Professional Ethics in physiotherapy, ethical professional act, and legal professional act; professional ethical principles, physiotherapists deontological code, ethical situations, or professional values in physiotherapy. Students were not previously informed about retention exams to avoid any preparation for the test.
Measured: 0 week, 5 week, 10 week
Ethical sensitivity
measured with the Ethical Sensitivity Scale Questionnaire (ESSQ). The ESSQ is based on Narvaez's theory of ethical sensitivity. The ESSQ is comprised of 28 items using a 4-point Likert scale (1 = totally disagree, 5 = totally agree), that are classified into seven dimensions: i) Reading and expressing emotions, ii) Taking the perspectives of others, iii) Caring by connecting to others, iv) Working with interpersonal and group differences, v) Preventing social bias, vi) Generating interpretations and options, vii) Identifying the consequences of actions and options. The higher score on the test is 5 points. A higher score showed greater ethical sensitivity. The reliability ranged between α = 0,63 (preventing social bias) and α = 0,79 (working with interpersonal and group differences). The overall reliability of this questionnaire is Cronbach's α = 0,81.
Measured: 0 week, 5 week, 10 week
Engagement
with the Student Engagement Questionnaire. It is a 35-item questionnaire, scored on a five-point Likert scale (1 = totally disagree, 5 = totally agree). The questionnaire is divided into five dimensions: i) Intellectual capabilities (items 1-10); ii) Working together (items 11-16); iii), Teaching (items 17-25); iv) Teacher-student relationship (items 26-29); and v) Student-student Relationship (items 30-35). The maximum score of the questionnaire is 5 points. The higher the score, the higher the students´ engagement. Cronbach's α of this questionnaire ranges from 0.75 to 0.89.
Measured: Week 10
Design of the Online Learning program instructions
using the Community of Inquiry Questionnaire. It is composed of 34 items scored on a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) that includes three dimensions: i) Cognitive dimension (items 1-13), referring to the degree to which the participants are capable of construct meaning and knowledge through continuous communication, reflection, and discussion; ii) Social dimension (items 14-22), defined as the ability of the participants to identify with the community, communicate and develop interpersonal relationships; iii) Teaching dimension (items 23-34), referring to the design, guidance, and direction, by teachers, of cognitive and social processes to achieve significant learning results in students. The maximum score of the questionnaire is 5 points. Questionnaire validation shows satisfactory results (Cronbach's α being 0.90 for each dimension).
Measured: Week 10
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted9 Aug 2023
- Study start1 Jan 2021
- Primary completion30 Apr 2021
- Study completion31 Dec 2021
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Ethics, NarrativeStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by University of ValenciaThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Other
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Model description
- Interventional
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 126 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of Valencia
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, David Hernández-Guillén, University of Valencia
- Investigators
- David Hernández-Guillén, PT, PhD, Study chair, University of Valencia
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05984225
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- BL_ETHICS_01
- Status last verified
- Aug 2023
- First submitted
- 1 Aug 2023
- Last updated
- 14 Aug 2023
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 14 Aug 2023. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Assessing the Impact of an Online Program Regarding Professional Ethics in Physiotherapy. A Prospective Clinical Trial
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05984225
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- BL_ETHICS_01
- Conditions
- Ethics, Narrative
- Keywords
- Learning, Ethics, Students, Knowledge, Physiotherapy
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 126 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- University of ValenciaUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 1 Jan 2021 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 30 Apr 2021 (actual)
- Study completion
- 31 Dec 2021 (actual)
- First posted
- 9 Aug 2023 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Given the continuing ethical problems faced by physiotherapists, improving their students' ethical competence is relevant. The development of ethical decision-making skills is particularly important for students preparing to enter professional health careers like physiotherapy. According to the Bologna process, the education of physiotherapists includes the cultivation of relevant generic/transversal competencies, including ethical competence. To achieve this, diverse teaching, learning, assessment, and feedback strategies are necessary and helpful in facilitating the acquisition of these competencies.
The physiotherapist needs to carry out ethics efficiently through ethical reasoning and critical thinking to develop ethical decision-making abilities. Active learning methods allow us to get students to follow the highest ethical standards and successfully manage ethical situations in the workplace. Despite some studies showing physiotherapists have a deficit in clinical practice ethics.
However, there is a lack of research focusing on online learning (OL) physiotherapy ethics education, and studies of review on mixed health professionals many times do not include physiotherapy studies.
Considering this, the primary objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of an OL program in developing ethical competence in physiotherapy students. Specifically, the study aims to evaluate the impact of the program on generic competences, knowledge acquisition, ethical sensitivity, engagement, and instructional design within the OL environment.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Other
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 1
- Model description
- Interventional
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Physiotherapy students | Experimental | Other: Online learningPhysiotherapy students of the 2nd course of the Grade of Physiotherapy of the University of Valencia. |
Who may qualify
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- To be studying the Physiotherapy Degree at the University of Valencia.
Key exclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Not willing to participate.
- Students with previous ethics training.
- Not willing to provide the written consent.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Online learningThe students performed a 10-week Online Learning (OL) program based on Professional Ethics. The program included: 1. Synchronous learning (1 session/week, 1 hour each). 2. Asynchronous learning: i) OL classes were recorded; ii) Moodle platform: for read breaking news, upload tasks or solve any doubt they may have through discussion forums; iii) An OL specific syllabus that consisted of five themes from the ethics knowledge; iv) An OL glossary, including the concept, explanation of the concept, and source; v) Bullet-point videos highlighting the most important issues of each theme; vi) Podcasts about Professional Ethics, Ethics in physiotherapy; vii) Links to websites; viii) Gamification using mobile Apps regarding ethical decision-making, healthcare, and Ethics or Professional Ethics, as well as an OL crossword; ix) OL activities were created and personalized comments about the activities were reported by the teachers to give feedback to the students. | Other | Physiotherapy students |
Primary outcome
Generic competencies
Time frame: 0 week, 5 week, 10 week
Questionnaire for the Evaluation of Generic Comeptences in Univesity Students. It is a 45-item instrument with a Likert scale from 1 = always to 6 = rarely, thus lower scores mean higher generic competencies. The internal consistency of this questionnaire is 0,92. Several competencies are assessed: 1) instrumental competencies (Job performance, Management skills); 2) systematic competencies (Leadership, Work motivation, Learning capabilities; 3) interpersonal competence (Interpersonal relationships and teamwork).
4 secondary outcomes
Knowledge acquisition of Professional ethics
Time frame: 0 week, 5 week, 10 week
Ethical sensitivity
Time frame: 0 week, 5 week, 10 week
Engagement
Time frame: Week 10
Design of the Online Learning program instructions
Time frame: Week 10
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 14 Aug 2023.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
David Hernández-Guillén, PT, PhD study chair
University of Valencia
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Online learning in people with Ethics, Narrative, run by University of Valencia at 1 site in Spain.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 3 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 14 Aug 2023. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Spain. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Generic competencies (time frame: 0 week, 5 week, 10 week). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 14 Aug 2023.