title: How did the Canterbury earthquakes affect physiotherapists and physiotherapy services? A qualitative study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The recent earthquakes in Canterbury New Zealand ended lives and resulted in disruption to many aspect of life for survivors, including physiotherapists. Physiotherapists often volunteer vital rehabilitation services in the wake of global disasters; however, little is known about how physiotherapists cope with disasters that affect their own communities. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the Canterbury earthquakes affected physiotherapists and physiotherapy services.
  
  
  METHODS
  We use a General Inductive Approach to analyse data obtained from purposively sampled physiotherapists or physiotherapy managers in the Canterbury region. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We analysed data from interviews with 27 female and six male participants. We identified four themes: 'A life-changing earthquake' that described how both immediate and on-going events led to our second theme 'Uncertainty'. Uncertainty eroded feelings of resilience, but this was tempered by our third theme 'Giving and receiving support'. Throughout these three themes, we identified a further theme 'Being a physiotherapist'. This theme explains how physiotherapists and physiotherapy services were and still are affected by the Canterbury earthquakes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We recommend that disaster planning occurs at individual, departmental, practice and professional levels. This planning will enable physiotherapists to better cope in the event of a disaster and would help to provide professional bodies with a cohesive set of skills that can be shared with health agencies and rescue organizations. We recommend that the apparently vital skill of listening is explored through further research in order for it to be better accepted as a core physiotherapy skill.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health, Activity and Rehabilitation Research School of Physiotherapy, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Hilda
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mulligan
authors.forename: Catherine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Sandy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ferdinand
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D004189:Disaster Planning; D055866:Earthquakes; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D059825:Physical Therapists / Q000523:psychology*; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: disasters; earthquakes; physical therapists