Sharing Appreciation for the APCP Education Bursary

This article was first published in the APCP Newsletter on 1-2-21

" I am honoured to be a recipient of the 2020 APCP Education Bursary and I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the APCP’s continued support to post-graduate students.

I am a full-time Senior Paediatric Physiotherapist at Southend University Hospital (Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust). I have been studying for the MSc Advanced Physiotherapy: Paediatrics at University College London for the last five-years on the modular/flexible programme.

The APCP bursary towards the core MSc module Applied Statistics for Health Research played a key role in funding and was a key part of me gaining a merit score of 68.5% in the final exam. Furthermore, the module learning outcomes were used to understand the concepts of study design and statistical analysis, identify strengths and weaknesses of study types, critique study findings. This knowledge has already been applied to audits at work and develop, conduct, and interpret my own child health MSc research results in December 2020.

The aim of this project was to explore the feasibility and effects of a community-based exercise-group for young-people with CP. Overall the implementation and integration of the programme into the gym-environment was very successful. This preliminary study showed promise for the positive impact of community-based, exercise-programmes and should be considered as an additional option to facilitate young-people with CP to increase their participation, and to incorporate physical activity into their daily lives

Additionally, I would highly recommend other therapists apply for these bursaries to support with funding for post-graduate courses due to limited funding available to part-time students that are employed full time.

Finally, I cannot express my gratitude enough, and I want you to know that your generous support has led to the completion of a Merit overall for my MSc Advanced Physiotherapy: Paediatrics in 2020."

Natalie Walsh

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