What place for ethics? An overview of ethics teaching in occupational therapy and physiotherapy programs in Canada.

PURPOSE The recent introduction of master's level curricula for Occupational Therapy (OT) and Physiotherapy (PT) training programs in Canada raises both challenges and opportunities to address ethical issues during professional training. This study evaluated the inclusion of ethics content in course descriptions and course calendars in order to develop a preliminary understanding of how rehabilitation ethics is taught in Canadian universities. METHOD We reviewed the ethics content in the online curricula of 27 Canadian rehabilitation programs (OT & PT). Courses addressing ethical issues were identified through keyword searches, and were then subjected to both quantitative and textual descriptive analyses. RESULTS The mean proportion of credits allotted to courses that included ethics terminology was 5.9% (SD = 1.4) for OT and 6.5% (SD = 4.8) for PT (p = 0.69). The most common terms in the course descriptions were "ethics/ethical" followed by "legal", "professionalism", "deontology" and "regulatory". Textual analysis revealed eight course topics, the most frequent being: standards of practice, ethical decision-making, clinical courses and mediation/communication. CONCLUSION With the growing recognition and status of OT and PT in the healthcare system, and corresponding shifts in how professionals are being trained, it is crucial to assess and reflect upon the place accorded to and manner of teaching ethics. Implications for Rehabilitation Ethics training in rehabilitation programs With the evolving recognition of OT and PT professions within the healthcare system, and corresponding shifts in how future professionals are trained, it is crucial to assess the place accorded to teaching ethics. In Canadian OT and PT programs, ethics content is most commonly included in broad courses related to standards of practice and not in specific ethics courses. Careful attention is needed to ensure that OT and PT students receive sufficient ethics training that is well aligned with their future practice context to support them to competently address the ethical issues that they will encounter in clinical practice. In addition, OT and PT professionals would benefit from the development of continuing education activities that target ethical issues relevant to their practice.