Physical Therapists' and Physical Therapist Students' Experiences and Views on the Provision of Physical Therapy Services to People With Dementia: A Scoping Review

Physical therapists (PTs) require specialized education and training to increase the capacity and competence of the dementia care workforce. Four areas of critical dementia workforce education and training gaps that apply to the physical therapy profession have been identified, including recruitment/retention, financing and cost of training, interprofessional education, and translation/implementation of effective dementia care. A critical step in developing effective training programs and educational curricula is to understand PTs' and PT students' experiences and views on working with people with dementia (PwD). Therefore, the purpose of this scoping review was to examine the extent and types of evidence that explore the experiences and views of PTs and PT students on the provision of physical therapy services to PwD. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PsychINFO, ERIC, PEDro, Web of Science, and Medline databases and sources of gray literature were searched for sources of evidence that met the inclusion criteria of the review protocol. The literature was mapped according to author, participant role, setting, publication type, study design, study aim, key findings, and dementia workforce training gaps addressed. A total of 552 sources of evidence were screened for eligibility, and 16 studies were selected for inclusion. Twelve studies included PTs as participants, and 5 included PT students. Included sources explored PTs' experiences, behaviors, knowledge, attitudes, and confidence in working with PwD and the influence of educational, organizational, and other factors on these domains. Challenges to and strategies for delivering effective care to PwD were examined in multiple sources. The 4 areas of critical dementia workforce education and training gaps were each addressed by at least 1 of the included studies. The current body of literature identifies several gaps in both research and education that need to be addressed before our profession is truly prepared to effectively manage this challenging population of patients with specialized needs.