Browsing by Author "Hendricks, Candice"

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    Evaluation of a new clinical performance assessment tool: a reliability study
    (AOSIS publishing, 2012) Joseph, Conran; Frantz, Jose M.; Hendricks, Candice; Smith, Mario
    Clinical practice is an essential requirement of any graduate physiotherapy programme. For this purpose, valid and reliable assessment tools are paramount for the measurement of key competencies in the real-world setting. This study aims to determine the internal consistency and inter-rater reliability of a newly developed and validated clinical performance assessment form. A cross-sectional quantitative research design was used, which included paired evaluations of 32 (17 treatment and 15 assessment) student examinations performed by two independent clinical educators. Chronbachs alpha was computed to assess internal consistency and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC’s) with confidence intervals of 95% were computed to determine the percentage agreement between paired examiners. The degree of internal consistency was substantial for all key performance areas of both examinations, except for time and organisational management (0.21) and professionalism (0.42) in the treatment and evaluation examinations respectively. The overall internal consistency was 0.89 and 0.73 for both treatment and assessment examinations, indicating substantial agreement. With regard to agreement between raters, the ICC’s for the overall marks were 0.90 and 0.97 for both treatment and assessment examinations. Clinical educators demonstrated a high level of reliability in the assessment of students’ competence using the newly developed clinical performance assessment form. These findings greatly underscore the reliability of results obtained through observation of student examinations, and add another tool to the basket of ensuring quality assurance in physiotherapy clinical practice assessment.
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    Exploring the key performance areas and assessment criteria for the evaluation of students' clinical performance: a Delphi study
    (AOSIS Publishing, 2011) Joseph, Conran; Hendricks, Candice; Frantz, Jose M.
    BACKGROUND: Evaluating students’ clinical performance is an integral part of the quality assurance in a physiotherapy curriculum, however, the objectivity during clinical examination have been questioned on numerous occasions. The aim of this study was to explore the essential key clinical performance areas and the associated assessment criteria in order to develop a reliable clinical assessment form. METHODS: A Delphi study was used to obtain consensus on the development of a reliable clinical performance assessment tool. The study population consisted of purposively selected academic physiotherapy staff from the University of Western Cape as well as supervisors and clinicians involved in the examination of physiotherapy students from the three Universities in the Western Cape. Findings from the Delphi rounds were analysed descriptively. Fifty percent or higher agreement on an element was interpreted as an acceptable level of consensus. RESULTS: Eight key performance areas were identified with five assessment criteria per key performance area as well as the weighting per area. It was evident that evaluators differed on the expectations of physiotherapy students as well as the criteria used to assess them.CONCLUSIONS: The Delphi panel contributed to the formulation of a clinical assessment form through the identification of relevant key performance areas and assessment criteria as they relate to undergraduate physiotherapy training. Consensus on both aspects was reached following discussion and calculation of mean ranking sores. IMPLICATIONS: This process of reaching consensus in determining clear criteria for measuring key performance areas contributes to the objectivity of the process of cilia examinations.
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    Factors associated with injuries in road-runners at a local athletic club
    (University of the Western Cape, 2011) Hendricks, Candice; Phillips, Julie; Dept. of Physiotherapy; Faculty of Community and Health Sciences
    Across the world, physical inactivity was found to be associated with cardiovascular and chronic diseases of lifestyle which often leads to an increased rate of various physical disabilities and premature death. To combat these high incidences of chronic diseases of lifestyle, WHO strongly encourages people to become physically active on a daily basis to reduce the risk of premature death. Running has thus become the preferred choice of physical activity by thousands of people to help improve their overall health and wellbeing. Apart from the health benefits  that running provides, it can also predispose the runner to potential injury especially when runners follow an inappropriate training programme and have inadequate knowledge about factors causing injury. Therefore, baseline data about the prevalence, incidence of injury and the identification of the aetiological factors associated with running injuries are needed to develop and implement preventative programmes to allow runners to optimally perform in training and races without injury. In South Africa, there is limited research available on the incidence of injury in runners yet there is an annual increase in participation in races such as Two Oceans and Comrades marathon which could lead to an increase in the number of running injuries.Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of injuries and identify the various risk factors that are associated with injuries in road runners at a local athletic club. Methods: A prospective cohort study design over a 16 week period using quantitative research methods was used. A sample of 50 runners had consented to participate in the study. The participants had to complete a self-administered questionnaire and clinical measurements of BMI, Q-angle, leglength, muscle strength of lower leg and ROM of hip and knee were recorded. The participants had to complete an injury report form to record any new injuries sustained over the 16 week period of the study. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18 and software SAS v9 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA) was used for data capturing and analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics were done to summarize the data and was expressed as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. Injury prevalence and cumulative incidence was calculated as a proportion rate along with 95% confidence interval. The Poisson regression model was used to analyse the association between running injury and the independent variables of interest such as demographics, anthropometric measurements, training methods, running experience and previous injury. The alpha level was set as p< 0.05. Results: The study found that the majority (92%) of the participants (n=46) sustained running injuries in the past prior to the study. A total of 16 participants sustained a number of 50 new injuries over the 16 week study period. Thus the prevalence rate of injuries was 32%. The incidence rate of injuries for this study was 0.67 per 1000km run at a 95% confidence interval of 0.41, 1.08. Furthermore, the most common location of new injuries reported were the calf (20%) and the second most common location was the knee (18%). PFPS was the most common type of knee injury diagnosed, followed by lumbar joint sprain. The results showed that none of the identified factors (running distance, stretching, age, Q-angle, BMI, running experience, leg-length discrepancy and previous running injuries) were directly associated with running injuries. However, a marginal significance was found for running distance (p = 0.08) and leg length discrepancy (p = 0.06). Conclusions: The study found a high prevalence and incidence rate of injury thus the need for preventative programmes have been highlighted. There was no statistical significance found between the identified factors and risk of injury however, there was clinical relevance found between factors identified. One major limitation was the small sample of participants and the short duration of study period. Thus, future research is needed to further determine possible factors associated with running injuries over a longer period and including a larger sample. The results of the study will be made available to all the stakeholders (runners, coaches and medical team) to implement in athletic club.
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    Factors contributing to running injuries: a narrative review
    (University of the Western Cape, 2011) Hendricks, Candice; Phillips, Julie
    The purpose of this paper is to highlight some common extrinsic and intrinsic risk factors associated with running injuries that should be considered in themanagement and prevention of running injuries. Background: Running is one the most common sports activity that is practiced throughout the world. This increase in popularity in running could gradually increase the incidence rate of injury thus contributing to overuse injuries. Research in the field of running injuries is vast and has been conducted over more than 40 years. It is however difficult to distinguish the exact cause of running injuries as the aetiologies aremultifactoral and diverse. There are various factors (extrinsic or intrinsic) that could be associated to running injuries. Extrinsic factors such as training methods, training surfaces or incorrect running shoes have been identified as some common risk factors. Some intrinsic factors such as muscle strength, flexibility and malalignment of the leg have also been identified which could further explain the aetiology of running injuries. Many researchers have identified various contributing factors to running injuries however there is a lack of conclusive evidence on the identified factors. Thus, the acquiring knowledge and scientific evidence about the risk factors related to common running injuries are important as it could assist in the treatment and prevention of long-term injuries.
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    Prevalence and incidence rate of injuries in runners at a local athletic club in Cape Town
    (2013) Hendricks, Candice; Phillips, Julie
    Abstract: People across the world are running on a daily basis to improve their health status. However, running can predispose an individual to injury to the back and lower limb. Baseline data on prevalence, incidence rate of injury and aetiological factors associated with running injuries are needed by physiotherapists to develop and implement effective prevention programmes to allow optimal performance in runners. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and incidence of injuries in runners at a local athletic club. Methods: A prospective, non-experimental cohort study was conducted over a 16 week period. A sample of 50 runners completed a self-administered questionnaire and an injury report form recording injuries sustained during the 16 week study period. Injury prevalence and cumulative incidence was calculated as a proportion rate along with 95% confidence interval. Results: The prevalence rate of injuries was 32%. The incidence rate of injuries was 0.67 per 1000km run (95% CI: 0.41- 1.08). The most common anatomical sites for new injuries were the calf (20%) and the knee (18%). Conclusions: The study found a moderate prevalence and incidence rate of injury in runners, thus the need for physiotherapyled injury surveillance and prevention programmes have been highlighted.