Physiotherapy in Mental Health (REK_275)
About Study Course
Objective
The aim of the study course is to prepare physiotherapy students for work with persons with mental health disorders - to ensure that students will be able to apply standardised assessment tools and clinical judgement skills to assess the impact of mental health disorders on the functioning of a person, to include mitigation of these disorders in therapy objectives and to select appropriate physiotherapy medical technologies to improve the functioning condition of a person and to reduce mental health disorders.
Prerequisites
Knowledge and skills acquired in the study courses “Basic psychology in professional activity”, “Classification and evaluation of functioning, disability and health”, “Functional assessment and treatment in Physiotherapy I”, “Physiology”, “Anatomy” and “Basics of human movements and motor control”.
Learning outcomes
1. Will be able to describe symptoms of mental health disorders (depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, sleep disorders, addiction disorders, PTSD, bipolar disorders, psychotic disorders, neural developmental disorders (ASD), behavioural disorders (ADHD)), explaining their relationship to human functioning.
2. Will be able to describe mental health disorders (depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, sleep disorders) as adjacent illnesses, explain their relationship to human functioning.
3. Will be able to explain the possibilities, principles and methods for the application of physiotherapy both for the primary and secondary prevention of mental health disorders and for the reduction of functional disorders related to mental health.
4. Will be able to describe screening tools and standardised assessment tools for mental health disorders used in physiotherapy.
5. Will be able to describe concepts used in physiotherapy such as body image and body awareness, stress regulation, educational work, body-mind interaction.
1. Will be able to choose assessment, prevention, health promotion and physiotherapeutic treatment methods according to the state of functioning, complaints and clinical diagnosis of the patient with mental health disorders.
2. Will be able to apply the chosen mental health assessment methods to obtain meaningful data necessary for the implementation of effective physiotherapy.
3. Will be able to include the results of the assessment in physiotherapist`s clinical reasoning when setting functional diagnosis, therapeutic objectives and making the choice of therapeutic methods to reduce mental health disorders and its caused functional limitations.
4. Will be able to apply physiotherapist medical technologies to achieve the stated therapeutic objectives in case of mental health disorders
5. Will be able to apply physiotherapist medical technologies to achieve the mental health promotion and disorders prevention objectives.
Will be able to choose meaningful and useful assessment, health promotion, disease prevention and prevention of functional disorders medical technologies in physiotherapy, for the restoration and provision of people's full mental health and related functioning.
Study course planning
| Study programme | Study semester | Program level | Study course category | Lecturers | Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Physiotherapy, RFFN | 7 | Bachelor’s | Required | Didzis Rozenbergs |
