Physiotherapy as an academic discipline – from the perspective of Nordic doctoral dissertations
Engelsk titel: Physiotherapy as an academic discipline – from the perspective of Nordic doctoral dissertations
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Författare:
Noronen, Leena
;
Lenné, Raija
;
Wikström-Grotell, Camilla
Email: camilla.wikstrom-grotell@arcada.fi
Språk: Eng
Antal referenser: 44
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 18100007
Sammanfattning
There are only a few studies focusing on the content of doctoral dissertations in the field of PT even
though academic dissertations are important for shaping a discipline. The aim of this study was to explore
and describe a paradigm and criteria for an academic discipline in Nordic doctoral dissertations written
by physiotherapists. The study was based on content analysis of the abstracts in 418 doctoral dissertations
conducted over three decades. A descriptive and retrospective research approach was used. The results
show that the PT dissertations focus on clinical questions within a broad range of PT practise areas. They
are mainly applied research studies with a quantitative approach, although qualitative and mixed methods
are used. The dissertations are conducted in different academic faculties, however, mainly in medical
and health sciences. Theoretical reflection about conceptual, ontological and epistemological issues is
scarce. The concept analysis in the Swedish dissertations (n ¼ 219) demonstrates a health- and functionoriented
approach to reality. The results of this study indicate that PT as a discipline is clinically oriented
and might be guided both by the implicit PT practise paradigm and by various scientific disciplines.
Further theoretical reflections and studies about the theory of science in PT are needed.