Have you ever wondered how clinicians get their research findings published in peer-reviewed journals? We asked Eloise Harrison to share her experience of taking a study idea through to a published article as the Better Rehab physiotherapist has recently had her and her study partners’ research article ‘Parkinson’s disease physical therapy services during COVID-19: A phenomenological study’ featured in the Australasian Journal on Ageing.
Eloise, who obtained her Bachelor of Physiotherapy from Monash University in 2015, chose a career in physiotherapy because she was interested in sciences and how the body works, and, like many Better Rehab clinicians, “wanted to pursue a career where I could help people.” Two years ago, motivated by a desired for a change in work setting and style, Eloise joined Better Rehab. “After six years working in hospital settings, I was keen to branch out to community-based physiotherapy. I love working with a multidisciplinary team to achieve holistic outcomes for participants, so Better Rehab was a great fit,” explains Eloise.
Our Q&A with Eloise below reveals more about her journey from a study ‘idea’ to investigate the impact of telehealth vs in-person physical therapy for people with Parkinson’s disease to having research findings published online.
How did this study come about?
“In 2020 I was working in an outpatient movement disorders clinic. Due to rapidly changing COVID-19 restrictions, services were adapted to telehealth instead of face-to-face therapy.
Following the pandemic, I reached out to Monash University to conduct a study investigating therapist and patient experiences of the differing modes of outpatient service delivery during the pandemic.
We (Eloise and her research partner Alexa Y. Z. Tham) were keen to gain insight into the benefits and challenges of telehealth versus in-person therapy for movement disorders services. We hoped that the findings could inform future practice.”
Is Parkinson’s disease a special interest of yours?
“I enjoy helping people with Parkinson’s Disease to stay active and improve their mobility and quality of life. There is a lot of current and emerging evidence that exercise has really fantastic benefits for people with Parkinson’s disease. Given this, it is definitively a special interest of mine to provide education and support to people with Parkinson’s Disease to manage their symptoms and improve independence with daily life.”
Who were your research partners on this study?
“Alexa (Y. Z. Tham) is a physiotherapist who was studying her Bachelor of Physiotherapy with Honours at the time of the study. She was the lead researcher for this project, which was the focus of her Honours thesis for her university degree. Dr Melanie Farlie is a senior lecturer and research physiotherapist at Monash University who supervised the project and publication process.”
Has it helped you in your practice? And do you hope it will help other clinicians and participants?
“This research article was a fantastic way to reflect on my previous practice and gain insight into the benefits and challenges of using telehealth versus in-person therapy in future. I hope that the findings are helpful to any clinician deciding whether telehealth is appropriate for participants.”
Have you had any research published previously?
“In 2019, I completed a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree. This was a physiotherapy research degree, like a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) but a smaller thesis. The thesis included three publications investigating physical therapies and people’s experiences of restless legs syndrome.”
Any tips for other clinicians considering doing a study and submitting it to be published?
“It is great to reach out to a local university to see if they have any research opportunities. Supervision from an experienced researcher is required for any research project.”
Did you receive any funding for this study?
“Nil funding. The study was completed as a physiotherapy research student project with the support of Dr Melanie Farlie and I as supervisors/co-authors.”
How did the publishing process work?
“The study was submitted to two journals to see if they were interested in publishing the topic. The Australasian Journal on Ageing accepted the manuscript and the paper was peer reviewed and sent back to the research team for editing before it was published in November.”
Did you get any ‘knock backs’?
“The first journal declined the paper as they had a large amount of submissions and were unable to accept our topic.”
Did you have anyone mentor you on this study project?
“Dr Melanie Farlie is an experienced researcher and lecturer at Monash University. She provided her valuable supervision and feedback with this project.”
A brief summary of Parkinson’s disease physical therapy services during COVID-19: A phenomenological study by Alexa Y. Z. Tham, Eloise Harrison, and Melanie K Farlie
The study explored the experiences of people with Parkinson’s disease and their therapists before and during COVID-19. Alexa Y. Z. Tham and Eloise Harrison sought to gain insights into the benefits and challenges of telehealth compared to in-person therapy for movement disorders services.
The study’s subjects were 10 patients with Parkinson’s disease and five therapists (three Occupational Therapists and two Physical Therapists) from a movement disorders service at an outer Melbourne rehabilitation hospital. Their responses to in-depth interviews by Alexa and Eloise were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
From these interviews, six themes were identified, including:
- Patients valued access to therapy, in-person and via telehealth.
- A key mechanism is trust in the relationship between clinician and patient.
- Telehealth served as an opportunity to empower patients.
- Ticking boxes for telehealth (‘tick the boxes’ to determine which patients could transition to therapy services via telehealth).
- Patient and therapist experiences of telehealth were contrasting.
- Something is better than nothing (‘something’ being telehealth sessions).
The study found that:
- People with Parkinson’s disease valued telehealth access during the pandemic.
- Additional support was initially required to use the service successfully.
- Telehealth enables their therapists to empower them through learning new skills and self-management strategies.
- The therapists found telehealth challenging to begin with and were surprised by how well their patients ‘managed the online service using locally developed procedures based on clinical judgement and staff training that address patient safety while supporting their patients to utilise telehealth’.
- The therapists were motivated to continue telehealth post pandemic.
You can read the study in full via Wiley’s online library or at PubMed if you have access.
