Task Force to Conduct a Feasibility Study of Mechanisms for Knowledge Dissemination in Academic Physical Therapy
Purpose
The purpose of this Task Force is to explore the feasibility, value and mechanisms of dissemination of scholarly work that advances academic physical therapy and ACAPT’s prioritized focus areas. Such mechanisms for dissemination would promote knowledge sharing, collaboration, and innovation, leading to advancements in the field and ultimately benefiting patients and the healthcare community.
The benefits that align with ACAPT’s vision may include:
- Accessibility and Knowledge Dissemination: Consider mechanisms that ensure research findings, new techniques, and advancements in physical therapy are freely accessible to researchers, practitioners, educators, and students worldwide. This democratizes access to knowledge, eliminating barriers such as subscription fees and institutional affiliations.
- Global Reach and Impact: For a broader international readership, enabling researchers and practitioners from different countries to access and contribute to the latest developments in academic physical therapy. This fosters collaboration and knowledge exchange on a global scale.
- Accelerated Research Progress: By providing immediate and free access to research articles it promotes the rapid dissemination of findings. This can accelerate the progress of research, leading to quicker adoption of evidence-based practices and advancements in the field.
- Consider key criteria related to: accessibility, visibility, credibility and transparency, multi-media, cost effectiveness and analytics.
- Encouraging Innovation: Easy access to the latest research findings can inspire innovation and the development of new treatment approaches, techniques, and technologies in the field of physical therapy.
- Educational Resource for Academic Physical Therapy: Serves as a valuable educational resource for physical therapy students, educators, and practitioners.
- Building a Community: Dissemination focused on ACAPT priorities can foster a sense of community among researchers and practitioners in the field of physical therapy. It creates a platform for sharing knowledge, discussing research, and collaborating on projects.
Objectives
To achieve its purpose, the Task Force will:
- Conduct needs and market assessment of existing dissemination pathways for academic physical therapy.
- Distinguish how the proposed dissemination mechanisms will enhance ACAPT’s unique perspectives and knowledge from comparable existing information sources.
- Define the Scope and Objectives: Clearly outline the focus and scope of the proposed dissemination mechanisms including priorities, subject areas, the target audience, and alignment with ACAPT members needs and priorities.
- Final Report: Compile all findings, analysis, and conclusions into a comprehensive feasibility study report.
- The task force is committed to ensuring that its work will be rooted in principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. By integrating DEI considerations into our work, we aim to address systemic disparities, remove barriers, and foster an environment where all individuals, regardless of their background, have equal access to opportunities and representation within the field of physical therapy.
Outcomes
By following the above objectives, and any others discovered, this Task Force will:
- Outline the recommendations and structures for knowledge of dissemination for ACAPT.
- Develop action items necessary for moving towards implementation.
Composition
The Task Force shall not exceed 10 people. The Task Force will seek to have:
- Individuals from ACAPT member institutions with experience on editorial boards, knowledge translation or dissemination science
- A balance of experience across scholarship domains in academic physical therapy including education, clinical, health systems and basic science research
- Representation of PT research stakeholders including academicians and clinicians, as well as other settings (e.g. industry, funding agencies etc).
- Representation from diverse geographic locations, Carnegie classifications, and practice settings.
The Chair’s primary responsibility will be to ensure the Task Force is meeting its charge as outlined in this document and within the timeline defined. The Chair will meet quarterly with the Institute Chair and Vice Chair, providing written progress reports on the work of the Task Force.
The Vice Chair’s primary responsibility will be to serve as the secretary of the Task Force whose responsibilities include polling for meetings, developing the agenda with the Chair, circulating minutes to Task Force members, staff and the Institute Chair and Vice Chair, and delivering all documents and work products to ACAPT for archiving.
- To ensure diverse engagement and equitable opportunities, no person serving on the Task Force may be serving on another of ACAPT’s volunteer leadership groups unless permission is sought and granted in advance by the Board of Directors.
- The task force is committed to ensuring that its work will be rooted in principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. By integrating DEI considerations into our work, we aim to address systemic disparities, remove barriers, and foster an environment where all individuals, regardless of their background, have equal access to opportunities and representation within the field of physical therapy.
- The Task Forces are accountable to their Institute Chair and Vice Chair, who are accountable to the ACAPT Board of Directors.
- All who are appointed to the Task Force will receive a letter acknowledging their appointment that may support promotion and/or tenure.
Timeline
- Task force members will meet or communicate at least monthly via conference calls and emails to review tasks completed and next steps to meet project milestones.
- Task force members may meet at CSM in person or virtually. The budget will determine if/what resources are available to support such a meeting.
- The Institute Chair and Vice Chair will conduct a virtual meeting quarterly with all task force chairs and vice chairs within that Institute to evaluate progress on their charge and to address any barriers or potential changes needed to their charge in response to changes in the profession.
- The task force will submit information to the Institute Chair and Vice Chair that may reflect their activity during the year and reported in ACAPT’s annual report, which is created in August and disseminated to members electronically in September.
- Task forces should be prepared to discuss their activity with ACAPT members at the Physical Therapy Education Leadership Conference (ELC) during a networking event created for the Institute.
- Task forces are expected to conclude their work by December of the calendar year in which they were created.
- If a task force needs more time than the calendar year for which they were created, the Chair of the task force will notify the Institute Chair. Together, they will evaluate what is causing the delay, evaluate if there are new circumstances informing the work not previously identified, and if there are additional resources needed. If the need for additional time is determined necessary by the Institute Chair, they will submit a request to the Board for an extension, to include how that may impact resources. The Board will make an assessment based on the charge, needed outcomes, and resources available and either extend the work for a limited time, expand the size of the task force to increase productivity to meet the charge and timeline, or disband the task force.
- The final work product(s) will reside on ACAPT’s website and shall be an ACAPT product.
Members
Chair: TBD
Vice Chair: TBD
- Ayodele A Akinremi, PT PhD, CCRP - Hampton University
- Alvaro N Gurovich, PT, PhD - The University of Texas at El Paso
- Sandra Kaplan
- Neeraj Kumar, PT, DPT, PhD, NCS - USAHS
- Eric Schussler, PhD, PT, ATC, CSCS - Old Dominion University
- Mary Shall, PT, PhD - Virginia Commonwealth University
- Rachel Tappan, PT, DPT - Northwestern University
- Julie Tilson, PT, DPT, MS, FAPTA - University of Southern California