Profile of Sports Physiotherapy in colleges and universities in Brazil

Abstract

The first Brazilian Forum of Professors in Sports Physiotherapy describes guidelines to standardize the education in undergraduate and graduate courses in relation to Sports Physiotherapy, justifying an orientation for Institutions of Higher Education (IHE). The aim of this study was to describe the profile of the Sports Physiotherapy in Brazilian IHE. A cross sectional study was conducted from January to October, 2011. In the research on the e-MEC information system, 439 institutions that offer undergraduate Physiotherapy courses were identified. Subsequently, it was collected information from pedagogical plans of these IHE, about core curriculum, specifically the existence or absence of the discipline of Sports Physiotherapy, workload and traineeship. A questionnaire was given to the coordinators of 33% of IHE that offer the discipline of Sports Physiotherapy. This discipline is offered in 56% of the Brazilian IHE with Physiotherapy course, obligatorily in 97% and, in 62%, the content is offered together with another discipline. Based in the response to the questionnaires, 31% of the courses have a total discipline workload within 30 to 45 hours/class, 50% of the courses offer traineeship, and only 20% of the IHE offer graduate courses in the area. It was also investigated the teachers' titration: 24% of them are specialists, 31% have a master degree, only 3% have a PhD degree, and 34% achieved the specialist degree of Sociedade Nacional de Fisioterapia Esportiva (SONAFE). It is observed that Sports Physiotherapy in the Brazilian IHE is not in accordance with the guidelines that regulate the teaching in undergraduate and graduate courses in the area.