Exploring the role of healthcare partners in referrals to a community-based exercise program with a healthcare-community partnership designed for people with balance and mobility limitations.

To explore how healthcare partners in community-based exercise programs for people with balance and mobility limitations perceive and enact referral in the context of their role. We conducted a descriptive, qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews and reflexive thematic analysis. Twelve healthcare partners from the Together In Movement and Exercise (TIME Healthcare partners perceive their roles as educators and trainers as taking precedence over their role in referrals. Findings can be used to guide selection and training of healthcare partners, design of clinical education programs, and research on competencies. Healthcare partners involved in supporting community-based exercise programs with healthcare-community partnerships (CBEP-HCPs) perceive their role in referrals as secondary to their roles in education, training, and overseeing the programCBEP-HCP program implementation may benefit from the inclusion of additional training and resources for supporting healthcare partners in non-clinical and clinical roles for facilitating referralEntry-to-practice healthcare professional education programs, particularly physical therapy programs, should consider including training on boundary-spanning competencies to prepare healthcare professional students for roles like being a healthcare partner.