A study of physiotherapists' experiences as training coach in a research project

Purpose: To investigate how physiotherapists shaped and experienced the role of being a training coach, to maintain exercise in people with stroke over time. Design, material and method: Interviews have been conducted with six physiotherapists about their experiences as training coach in the LAST study. The data is interpreted using thematic analysis. Findings: The context for performing tasks within research, in the new coach role, was different than in ordinary physiotherapy practice. All the physiotherapists experienced tension between consideration for the research and the participants' needs. Communication with the stroke victims was central and time-consuming. The coaches' experienced dilemmas in terms of how much they could help and to what extent they should get involved in the participants' everyday challenges. Professional knowledge and professional experience contributed to the physiotherapists being able to exercise professional judgment. The physiotherapists' experiences contributed to minor changes in the research protocol. Conclusion: New tasks as training coach contributed to challenging and constructive processes with the acquisition of new knowledge, skills and experiences. The coaches' experiences were central to the research study. Communication with the participants as subjects was an important factor and the physiotherapists applied their competence as well as ethical reflections. This led to minor protocol changes, which contributed to the research results being experienced as more clinically relevant.