The Development of a Qualification System for Physical Therapists in Japan: Analysis of Policy Process Using Issue-approach Model

Abstract

This study aims to explore the development process of a qualification system for physical therapists, using the “Issue-approach Model.” Although an orthopedist introduced the first qualification scheme, based on the rehabilitation ideas of the 1910s, it did not become a policy agenda at the time. The measures for war victims under the military regime and the welfare measures by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers after World War II prepared the ground for the recognition of the need for rehabilitation professions. The qualification scheme remerged, but vested right holders, physicians, masseurs, and visually impaired persons entered the policymaking arena. They tried to combine their own issues and agendas with this qualification scheme. As a result, the idea inherent in the proposed system changed, and the professionalization of the physical therapist stagnated.