Physiotherapy Competences to Work with Refugees: An Expert Panel

The Erasmus+ funded Physiotherapy and Refugees Education Project (PREP) recently organised an online expert panel with the aim of reaching consensus on a set of competences that physiotherapists should have to provide optimal services to refugees. The PREP team used the nominal group technique to reach consensus among seven physiotherapists with experience and expertise in working with refugees and people with complex traumatic experiences. Using an online meeting platform allowed for participation of experts and facilitators who were in Bangladesh, Norway, Denmark, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey, USA, the Netherlands, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Having an online meeting allowed the PREP team to tap into authentic experiences and expertise of physiotherapists from all over the world.

Experts agreed on a set of competencies that in their view physiotherapists should have. The competences ranged from the competencies related to trauma informed care and culturally responsive practice to global health strategies. More details about the outcomes will be available in the upcoming reports and publications that will be available on the PREP website.

This meeting marks the planned end of the project data collection phase. Results of the nominal group technique consensus meeting will be used as the third source of data along side informant interviews and a scoping review, that will inform the curriculum development for an online module for physiotherapists who are interested in advancing their knowledge and skills in this area.

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