1. Welcome to the Foot Health Forum community where you can ask about foot problems and get help, as well as be up-to-date with the latest foot health information. Only registered members can ask a question, but you do not need to register to respond and give help. Please become part of the community (here) and check out the shop.

On-line tool to aid practitioner/patient discussions about healthy footwear

Discussion in 'Podiatry Arena' started by Admin, Jun 8, 2016.

  1. Admin

    Admin Administrator Staff Member

    If the shoe fits: development of an on-line tool to aid practitioner/patient discussions about ?healthy footwear?
    Lisa Farndon, Victoria Robinson, Emily Nicholls and Wesley Vernon
    Journal of Foot and Ankle Research 2016 9:17
    Quote:
    Background
    A previous study highlighted the importance of footwear to individuals? sense of their identity, demonstrating that shoes must ?fit? someone socially, as well as functionally. However, unhealthy shoes can have a detrimental effect on both foot health and mobility. This project utilises qualitative social science methods to enable podiatrists to understand the broader contribution of footwear to patients? sense of themselves and from this an online toolkit was developed to aid footwear education.

    Method
    Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six podiatrists/shoe-fitters and 13 people with foot pathologies, some of whom also completed shoe diaries. These were supplemented with some follow-up interviews and photographs of participants? own shoes were taken to allow in-depth discussions.

    Results
    Four areas related to ?fit? were identified; practicalities, personal, purpose and pressures, all of which need to be considered when discussing changes in footwear. These were incorporated into an online toolkit which was further validated by service users and practitioners in a focus group.

    Conclusion
    This toolkit can support podiatrists in partnership with patients to identify and address possible barriers to changing footwear towards a more suitable shoe. Enabling patients to make healthier shoe choices will help contribute to improvements in their foot health and mobility.

    Continue reading...
     
Loading...

Share This Page