31 Special Olympics FitFeet programme as an educational clinical experience for Podiatry Students

Aims and Objectives

• Create a positive environment for student to gain clinical exposure to people with intellectual disability.
• Help students develop inclusive communication strategies with people with intellectual disabilities.
• Show students the value of volunteering with charity organisations in the provision of health care initiatives and how their experience can impact the improvement of these initiatives.
• Provide a fun, transformative environment for students to gain experience and learn both from and with people with intellectual disabilities.

Initiative Overview

The initiative involved beginning a university partnership with Special Olympics Ireland on running a bi-annual foot screening programme.  

The first stage of this required the lead lecturer to train as a clinical director with the Special Olympics and subsequently provide training to the students and other volunteers ahead of the screening day. The event was then advertised widely through Special Olympic clubs where interested athletes could register for the screening event. Room booking and equipment was facilitated through the University as was recruitment of the BSc Year 3 Podiatric Medicine student volunteers. 

Students were required to carry out the following: 

• Shoe measurement and check 

• Dermatological assessment – nails, skin, hair 

• Joint assessment – checking for foot deformity 

• Gait assessment – checking for issues throughout the walking cycle. 

• Education/ check out. 

The teaching and learning approaches for this initiative aim to value both the acquisition of knowledge and the participation in a clinical community referred to by Sford (2015). This initiative explores the “application directed” teaching where students have real world practical examples as part of their teaching (Vermunt, 1998). By involving the student in active clinical assessment and engagement with people with intellectual disability, it avoids them being a passive recipient of information, and instead an active participant (Smidt, 2013). Student required to complete an online training course via the Special Olympics website. They all participated in a workshop prior to the event to discuss the assessments they would be carrying out. 

There was no assessment included in this initiative for the students. The experience will feed into the following module for the student population: Working with Vulnerable Adults, Clinical Medicine, Podopaediatrics, Redefining Health and Wellbeing and Podiatric Medicine 3&4. I plan to gain feedback from students who participated through a focus group setting to determine how the experience has impacted their approach to podiatric practice and/or their lives. This will also help evaluate the initiative and improve it through reflection. 

Out of 22 Special Olympics Athletes screened for foot issues, 13 needed onward referral for either GP/ podiatry services and treatment. This shows a significant need for this population to have foot screening and therefore the importance of the Fit Feet screening programme. From a student perspective, the experience allowed students a different learning environment that will hopefully impact their awareness of and capacity to treat people with intellectual disability. 

References:

Sfard, A., 1998. On Two Metaphors for Learning and the Dangers of Choosing Just One. Educational Researcher, 27(2), pp. 4-13. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X027002004 

Smidt, S., 2013. Introducing Bruner: A Guide for Practitioners and Students in Early Years Education. Routledge. 

Vermunt, J.D., 1998. The regulation of constructive learning processes. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 68(2), pp. 149-171. 

Impact and Evidence of Success

• There were 18 student volunteers, one of whom could not attend on the day.  
• There were 2 university staff involved. One clinical director with the special olympics and the other a volunteer for the event.  
• There was 1 representative from industry. This person represented the Sizewise company.  
• There was 1 special olympics volunteer involved and 1 staff member from the special olympics.  
• Further impact will be explored following the focus group (planned for 31/10/2025)

Future Directions and Sustainability

The plan for this initiative is to run the initiative once per semester in the university calendar. There is capacity for 3 screening days per annum (MSc & BSc). Any athletes who are identified as needing further treatment are then either referred to their GP or to the university training facility which is a HSE led Podiatry clinic. This allows for the issues being identified at the screening stage to be further assessed and treated with the student’s continued involvement in the athletes care.  

For sustainability of the project, the following will need to take place: 

• Train more university staff members into the role of Clinical Director for the Special Olympics.  
• Embed the FitFeet programme into the curriculum of the programme. 

Alignment and Policy Context

• Health Equity and Inclusion (HEI) Framework
• UN Sustainable Development Goals
• University of Galway Strategic Plan 2025–2030

Resources and Supporting Information

• Special Olympics FitFeet Programme

Images

Funding and Acknowledgements

Funding: No external funding. The initiative was supported by University of Galway staff and Special Olympics Ireland staff, whose contributions were vital to its success.