Issue Home Volume 11: Issue 4

Ignatian Pedagogy in Physical Therapy Education
Darina Sargeant, PT, PhD
Doisy College of Health Sciences Department of Physical Therapy & Athletic Training

Ignatian pedagogy provided me with a foundation for the learning strategies I included in an on-line course that I teach for practicing physical therapists in the transitional Doctor of Physical Therapy curriculum. As I created the course I attempted to guide the students to new information that was relevant to their practice as physical therapists, provided them with direct and vicarious learning experiences, and encouraged reflection, action and evaluation. I incorporated the context of their lives as physical therapists in creating the experiences I included in the course, such as 1) asking them to reflect on how the material would impact their interaction with their patients or 2) talking to their peers about spirituality in physical therapy practice. Content included communication with patients in the areas of spiritual care, learning theories, teaching philosophy and communication techniques to use when approaching sensitive topics, such as self-injury, post-traumatic stress syndrome or abuse. Although I used traditional methods, such as lecture imbedded in PowerPoint presentations, annotated bibliographies and on-line quizzes, I also included discovery learning techniques and numerous opportunities to encourage reflection on topics I posted on the discussion board.

The students work in a variety of physical therapy settings: outpatient clinics with relatively healthy patients, hospitals with acutely ill or terminally ill patients, nursing homes or pediatric settings, such as schools or hospitals. The richness of their responses across a variety of settings allowed the other students to learn about a context different from their own. The students were given the freedom to choose an article on spirituality that was of interest to them from a list I provided or an article they found. After writing an annotated bibliography the students were required to write two questions related to the content of the article and reflection on the meaning of the content in physical therapy practice. The purpose of the questions was twofold: 1) to have the student identify meaningful content and 2) to engage the other students in reflection about the newly acquired information to their practice. The result was very insightful responses with examples of actual interactions.

A link was provided to two sites: one on cultural diversity and one on self-injury and eating disorders so that the students could choose the information that was relevant to their practice and share it with the other students. The students reflected on what this information meant to their practice. Change occurred as a result of the sharing of information from these websites. Students recognized that they missed indicators of self-injury or abuse in the past and shared that they will listen more fully in the future. The students also shared that the experiences in this course changed their practice and their interaction with the patients. I believe these changes were possible because the students had the opportunity to reflect throughout the course on the content in the context of their life experiences and the experiences of their classmates.

Last updated 04.28.09