The final product is the result of collaborative work across a few years with engagement and input from the profession’s leadership, the CPA’s member community, and researchers who all contributed to the identification and refinement of this set of core professional values and associated behaviours considered relevant to practice and essential to our members.

The Canadian Physiotherapy Association Core Professional Values and Associated Behaviours are 10 core professional values and 35 associated behaviours that all CPA members ideally uphold. A value is an “operational belief” that can guide one’s behaviour.1 Core values are at the centre of professionalism, guide the decisions we make as physiotherapy professionals, and can determine the behaviours in which we engage as professionals, CPA members, and as a professional organization.

The Core Professional Values

  • ACCOUNTABILITY
  • ADVOCACY
  • ALTRUISM
  • CLIENT-CENTREDNESS
  • COMPASSION
  • EQUITY
  • EXCELLENCE
  • INTEGRITY
  • RESPECT
  • SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

This project is directly aligned with the CPA’s 2018-2023 Strategic Plan, “Champion excellence, innovation, and professionalism in physiotherapy” and the results of this project will create a foundation from which other CPA activities related to professionalism can be derived.

The development of the list of core professional values was initiated in 2016 with a scoping review and survey undertaken at the CPA’s Congress 2016 in Victoria, BC, by students in the Master of Science (Physiotherapy) Program at McMaster University.2 The formal collaboration with the CPA was initiated in the fall of 2017 when a Project Charter was approved by the CPA’s Board of Directors. Led by Dr. Pat Miller and Dr. Vanina Dal Belo-Haas from McMaster University and Chantal Lauzon (former CPA staff), three rounds of an online Delphi process, and a series of meeting and consultations gave rise to the final Core Professional Values document.

More than 1,000 members of the CPA from across the country participated in a range of activities that informed the development of the 10 core professional values and the association behaviours.

Project Engagement Timeline

  • Delphi Survey #1 – January 2018
  • Delphi Survey #2 – September 2018
  • Workshop at the CPA’s Congress 2018, Montreal, QC – November 2018
  • Delphi Survey #3 – June 2019
  • Consensus Exercise with the CPA’s physiotherapy leaders – November 2019
  • Further document refinement through consultation – January 2020 – February 2020
  • Online survey to gather final feedback from CPA members – March 2020

Acknowledgements

The CPA extends its sincere thanks to all the physiotherapy community members and leaders who contributed their perspectives. The CPA is grateful for the leadership of Dr. Pat Miller, Dr. Vanina Dal Bello-Haas, and Chantal Lauzon, who had directed the project, and for the input of Dr. Patty Thille, Dr. Judy King, Katie Gasparelli, and Dr. Jenny Setchell, whose expertise and unique perspectives helped shape the final document.


1. Davis, C.M. (2011, May 15). Patient Practitioner Interaction: An Experiential Manual for Developing the Art of Health Care (5th ed.). Slack Incorporated.
2. Boyczuk, A.M., Deloyer, J.J., Ferrigan, K.F., Muncaster, K.M., Dal Bello-Haas, V. & Miller, P.A. (2018, December 31). Professional Values: Results from a Scoping Review and Preliminary Canadian Survey. Physiotherapy Canada, 71 (2). 134-143. DOI: 10.3138/ptc.2017-70.e