A retrospective analysis of ethics knowledge in physical therapy (1970-2000).

Abstract

Purtilo, Guccione, and others have noted that increased clinical autonomy for physical therapists presents more complex ethical dilemmas. The body of literature examining physical therapy ethics, however, is relatively small and has not been analyzed. The primary purposes of this research were: (1) to use multiple perspectives to describe and analyze literature examining ethics in physical therapy from 1970 to 2000, (2) to develop a model to describe the evolution of knowledge of ethics in physical therapy during this period, and (3) to compare the proposed model with the evolutionary models proposed by Purtilo in physical therapy and by Pellegrino in bioethics.