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Lived Experiences of Physiotherapists in Caring for People with Advanced Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Portugal: A Phenomenological Study

datacite.subject.fosCiências Médicas::Ciências da Saúde
datacite.subject.sdg03:Saúde de Qualidade
datacite.subject.sdg04:Educação de Qualidade
datacite.subject.sdg17:Parcerias para a Implementação dos Objetivos
dc.contributor.authorMonteiro, Andreia
dc.contributor.authorAli, Amira Mohammed
dc.contributor.authorLaranjeira, Carlos
dc.date.accessioned2025-07-21T15:01:26Z
dc.date.available2025-07-21T15:01:26Z
dc.date.issued2025-04-10
dc.descriptionArticle number - 510
dc.description(This article belongs to the Special Issue Narrative Approaches and Practice in Health Psychology)
dc.description.abstractAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disease that has a multidimensional impact on a person’s life, with symptoms associated with a significant loss of autonomy. Specialized palliative care (PC) should be provided early and throughout the course of the disease. Indeed, physiotherapists should be understood as integral members of the multidisciplinary team in PC, in the care and improvement of the quality of life of these people. This study aimed to describe the lived experience of physiotherapists in the context of intervention in people with advanced ALS and their families. Descriptive phenomenology was employed as a framework for conducting semi-structured interviews to reveal experiences. Sixteen physiotherapists who performed interventions on at least one person with advanced ALS in the last 2 years were included in the study. The study involved conducting semi-structured individual interviews, through the Zoom® videoconferencing platform (version 6.4.3). Data were analyzed according to Giorgi’s five-stage approach and managed using webQDA software (Version 3.0, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal). The COREQ checklist was applied in the study. Participants were mostly female (n = 12) and aged between 26 and 55 years (M = 36.81; SD = 6.75). Four constituents were identified: (1) undulating course of a complex disease; (2) barriers to person-centered care; (3) enablers of person-centered care; (4) transition between curative and palliative care. The findings illustrate the multidimensional impact of the disease trajectory on the person and their family. This study highlights the need to invest in specialized training for physiotherapists, contributing to a person-centered PC practice with an impact on promoting comfort and quality of life.eng
dc.description.sponsorshipFunding: This work is funded by national funds through the FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (UIDB/05704/2020 and UIDP/05704/2020)—and under the Scientific Employment Stimulus-Institutional Call (https://doi.org/10.54499/CEECINST/00051/2018/CP1566/CT0012).
dc.identifier.citationMonteiro, A., Ali, A. M., & Laranjeira, C. (2025). Lived Experiences of Physiotherapists in Caring for People with Advanced Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Portugal: A Phenomenological Study. Behavioral Sciences, 15(4), 510. https:// doi.org/10.3390/bs15040510
dc.identifier.doi10.3390/bs15040510
dc.identifier.issn2076-328X
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/13735
dc.language.isoeng
dc.peerreviewedyes
dc.publisherMDPI
dc.relationCenter for Innovative Care and Health Technology
dc.relation.hasversionhttps://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/4/510
dc.relation.ispartofBehavioral Sciences
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectNeurodegenerative disease
dc.subjectAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis
dc.subjectPalliative care
dc.subjectPhysiotherapy
dc.subjectRehabilitation
dc.subjectQualitative study
dc.titleLived Experiences of Physiotherapists in Caring for People with Advanced Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Portugal: A Phenomenological Studyeng
dc.typejournal article
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.awardTitleCenter for Innovative Care and Health Technology
oaire.awardURIinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDP%2F05704%2F2020/PT
oaire.citation.issue4
oaire.citation.titleBehavioral Sciences
oaire.citation.volume15
oaire.fundingStream6817 - DCRRNI ID
oaire.versionhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
person.familyNameLaranjeira
person.givenNameCarlos
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-1080-9535
person.identifier.scopus-author-id22957802900
project.funder.identifierhttp://doi.org/10.13039/501100001871
project.funder.nameFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
relation.isAuthorOfPublication7c2157d8-cac9-4004-9438-e92fec260842
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery7c2157d8-cac9-4004-9438-e92fec260842
relation.isProjectOfPublicatione5ceb42e-60fb-425d-8576-b213fc64081f
relation.isProjectOfPublication.latestForDiscoverye5ceb42e-60fb-425d-8576-b213fc64081f

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