Abstract:

Introduction:
This study will address the need to strengthen the ethical competence of physiotherapy students, given the ethical challenges encountered by professionals in the field. The development of ethical decision-making skills is important, particularly for students preparing for careers in health-related professions such as physiotherapy. The World Physiotherapy Association mandates that graduates should possess a solid foundation in ethics as a core competency upon completing their curriculum. To meet these requirements, diverse teaching, learning, assessment, and feedback strategies will be essential for imparting these competencies.

Methodology:
The educational intervention will comprise several key components, including: The online (OL) resources used in the program will include: Synchronous learning sessions held once a week, lasting one hour each. These sessions will be conducted through an OL communication platform called Blackboard Collaborate, known for its effectiveness in healthcare education. Asynchronous learning elements, such as recorded OL classes, a Moodle platform for communication and discussion, an OL syllabus covering Professional Ethics topics, a student-created OL glossary, bullet-point videos, podcasts, links to relevant websites, gamification components, and personalized feedback from teachers.

Results:
Data collection will involve a range of outcome measures to assess the impact of the OL program:
1) Primary Outcome: Generic competencies will be assessed using the Questionnaire for the Evaluation of Generic Competences in University Students, which includes 45 items with a Likert scale.
2) Secondary Outcomes:
a) Knowledge acquisition of Professional Ethics will be measured through a multiple-choice knowledge test.
b) Ethical sensitivity will be evaluated using the Ethical Sensitivity Scale Questionnaire (ESSQ), consisting of 28 items across seven dimensions.
c) Student engagement will be assessed with the Student Engagement Questionnaire, comprising 35 items.
d) The design of the OL program instructions will be evaluated using the Community of Inquiry Questionnaire, including 34 items.
Data collection will occur at three time points: baseline (T1), mid-program (5 weeks) (T2), and program completion (10 weeks) (T3). The assessment will include generic competencies, knowledge acquisition, and ethical sensitivity at all three time points. Student engagement and OL program instructions design will be assessed at the end of the program (T3). This evaluation aims to provide insights into the effectiveness of the OL program in developing ethical competence among physiotherapy students and its impact on various outcome measures related to professional ethics.

Conclusions:
This study will underscore the suitability of OL programs for effectively teaching professional ethics in the field of physiotherapy. The research findings will assess the impact on ethical competence, knowledge acquisition, and generic competences of the integration of OL into physiotherapy education

Keywords:

Physiotherapy education, online learning program, professional ethics, ethical competence, generic competencies, knowledge acquisition, ethical sensitivity, student engagement, Community of Inquiry Questionnaire, World Physiotherapy Association, healthcare education, teaching strategies, assessment strategies, feedback strategies.