Translating Policy into Practice for Community-Based Management of Rheumatoid Arthritis: Targeting Professional Development Needs among Physiotherapists

Table 1

Characteristics of respondents.

Characteristic	PD survey respondents; (𝑛=273)
Female; n (%)	191 (70.0)
Age; mean ± SD, years	36.9 ± 11.8; range (21–69)
Primary place of employment; 𝑛 (%)
Private practice	123 (45.1)
Community-based health centre	28 (10.3)
Public hospital (tertiary)	42 (15.4)
Public hospital (nontertiary)	28 (10.3)
University	22 (8.1)
Other	30 (11.0)
Secondary place of employment^a; n (%)
Private practice	20 (27.0)
Community-based health centre	2 (2.7)
Public hospital (tertiary)	9 (12.2)
Public hospital (nontertiary)	3 (4.1)
University	21 (28.4)
Other	19 (25.7)
Primary clinical area of practice; 𝑛 (%)
Musculoskeletal	136 (49.8)
Nonclinical	28 (10.3)
Paediatrics	18 (6.6)
Sports	18 (6.6)
Other (clinical e.g., burns, rural generalist, oncology)	17 (6.2)
Neurology	17 (6.2)
Cardiopulmonary/medical	16 (5.8)
Women’s health	10 (3.7)
Gerontology	8 (2.9)
Chronic disease/rehabilitation	5 (1.2)
Qualifications higher than foundation physiotherapy degree^b; n (%)	100 (36.6)
Graduate certificate	13 (4.8)
Clinical graduate degree	40 (14.7)
Clinical Masters	28 (10.3)
Nonclinical Graduate Degree	9 (3.3)
Masters by coursework	8 (2.9)
Masters by research	12 (4.4)
Ph.D.	10 (3.7)
Fellowship of the Australian College of Physiotherapists	8 (2.9)
Other	4 (1.5)
Years of overall clinical practice experience; mean ± SD	12.6 ± 11.1; range (1–45)
Current caseload includes people with RA; 𝑛 (%)	137 (50.2)
Percentage current caseload managing consumers with RA^c; mean ± SD	4.5 ± 6.0
Private practices in which Government-funded Chronic Disease Management plans accepted^d; 𝑛 (%)	100 (72.5)

^a𝑛=74; ^ba number of respondents held multiple higher qualifications; ^c𝑛=137; ^d𝑛=138.