title: Understanding physiotherapists' roles in ontario primary health care teams.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To understand physiotherapists' roles and how they are enacted within Ontario primary health care (PHC) teams.
  
  
  METHODS
  Following a pragmatic grounded theory approach, 12 physiotherapists practising within Ontario PHC teams participated in 18 semi-structured in-depth in-person interviews. All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim, then entered into NVIVO-8. Coding followed three progressive analytic stages and was iterative in nature, guided by grounded theory. An explanatory scheme was developed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Physiotherapists negotiate their place within the PHC teams through five interrelated roles: (1) manager; (2) evaluator; (3) collaborator; (4) educator; and (5) advocate. These five roles are influenced by three contextual layers: (1) inter-professional team; (2) community and population served; and (3) organizational structure and funding. Canada's PHC mandate (access, teams, information, and healthy living) frame the contexts that influence role enactment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To fulfill the PHC mandate, physiotherapists carry out multiple roles that are based on a broad holistic perspective of health, within the context of a collaborative inter-professional team and the community, through an evidenced-informed approach to care. There appear to be multiple ways of successfully integrating physiotherapists within PHC teams, provided that role enactment is context sensitive and congruent with the mandate of PHC.
authors.affiliation: School of Rehabilitation Science ; Aging Community and Health Research Unit, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Science, McMaster University, Hamilton.
authors.forename: Sinéad Patricia
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Dufour
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Science, The University of Western Ontario, London.
authors.forename: S Deborah
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Lucy
authors.affiliation: Centre for Studies in Family Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London.
authors.forename: Judith Belle
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Brown
keywords: inter-professional teams; primary health care