Concepts of disablement in documents guiding physical therapy practice.
OBJECTIVE
To describe disability concepts used within documents guiding physical therapist practice.


METHODS
Content analysis was performed on the Guide to Physical Therapist Practice, second edition; A Normative Model of Physical Therapist Professional Education, version 2000; APTA House of Delegates Standards, Policies, Positions and Guidelines; APTA Board of Directors Policies, Positions and Guidelines; The Model Practice Act for Physical Therapy and The Illinois Physical Therapy Act. Using a word sense framework, text-in-context lists were compiled, from which contextual themes and counts for all occurrences of disability terms were developed.


RESULTS
Across documents, contextual themes with number of occurrences were: disability as role performance limitations within specific contexts: 819; disability resulting from health status: 39, disability law: 29; and rights of individuals with disabilities: 25.


CONCLUSIONS
Documents guiding physical therapist practice commonly conceptualize disability as individual limitations within specific contexts and infrequently conceptualize disability as a societal phenomenon affecting persons across most settings and circumstances. It is believed that a concept of disability that is more inclusive of broad, as well as specific, contexts of disability may lead to improved physical therapy management for individuals with a wide range of performance capacities.
Raman
S
S
Department of Physical Therapy (M/C 898), University of Illinois at Chicago, 1919 West Taylor Street, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA.
Levi
S J
SJ
D003210:Concept Formation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty / Q000193:education*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D009626:Terminology as Topic