What are the discourses that shape the professional identity of the novice rehabilitation practitioner?

Evidence suggests the first five years of working in a profession are formative in shaping professional values and practices. We wanted to explore how the context of work influences what physiotherapists do, how they work, and what becomes important and influences the kind of health professional they become.

Professional identities and core professional values underpin daily practice and influence perceptions of what constitutes good care. Professional identities develop over time prior to, during, and after one's professional education and in the workplace through interaction with colleagues, clients, supervisors and employers. We would like to better understand how the context of work influences what physiotherapists do, how they work, and what becomes important and influences the kind of health professional they become.

We wanted to talk with novice physiotherapists (n=12) who were up to five years post-graduation to understand how they navigate the day-to-day demands of their role, their interactions with colleagues and clients, and the dilemmas they have navigated to explore the contextual factors that influence their emergent professional identity.

We believe our findings provide important information about the effect of the workplace environment on professional identity formation. This will be of interest to those concerned with the professional development of the novice practitioner, particularly educators, employers, and professional bodies.

Related findings:

Publications

• Cummins, C., Waterworth, K., Søgaard Hansen, L., Neal, A., & Murthy, V. (2024). How do novice physiotherapists describe their experiences of workplace support? New Zealand Journal of Physiotherapy, 52(2), 104–112. https://doi.org/10.15619/nzjp.v52i2.394

Conference Presentations

• Christine Cummins, Kate Waterworth, Louise Hansen Mapping the becoming of the novice physiotherapist. In sickness and in Health Conference 2024 (ISIH 2024) February 2024, Auckland New Zealand.
• Amy Neal, Visaka Murthy, Kate Waterworth, Louise Hansen, Suzie Mudge, Christine Cummins What matters most to newly qualified physiotherapists as they navigate their emerging professional identity?  Physiotherapy New Zealand Conference Rotoura September 2022