Ongoing professional development is crucial for healthcare providers to maintain and enhance clinical skills, while cooperative learning promotes interdisciplinary collaboration, leading to improved patient care. Communities of Practice (CoP) represent a structured method for such collaborative learning, yet are underutilized in the physiotherapy sector, particularly at a national scale. This study aimed to design a virtual Community of Practice (vCoP) focused on Pain Science in Physiotherapy across Spain, facilitating accessible, asynchronous interaction. Recruitment occurred through announcements on Twitter and Instagram, attracting 210 participants to a Telegram group for the vCoP. Then, a survey was conducted to determine the preferred characteristics of the vCoP among potential participants, targeting topics like profile of participants, credibility, confidence, content type and publication frequency. We obtained 157 valid survey responses. Respondents showed a high confidence profile, reporting confidence in the content that they shared, with a 3.08 (SD=0.56) in up to 4 points Likert scale, feeling comfortable with sharing knowledge with colleagues, with 3.54 (SD= 0.59), even when they wouldn’t know them (3.29, SD= 0.7). Regarding contents, they preferred mainly recent scientific papers about the topic, with 3.81 (SD=0.41), but also digital resources for professionals (3.64, SD=0.56) and for patients (3.72, SD=0.52). They reported they would prefer to participate in the vCoP by sharing knowledge through discussions and comments on other participant’s posts (3.20, SD=0.63), rather than post or add contents themselves (2.83, SD=0.69), or reading but without contribution (2.83, SD=0.92). Regarding the values of the vCoP, respondents highlighted the value of the contents offered (3.57, SD=0.74). They preferred updates once a week or more often (93.6% or respondents, being 2-3 times a week the most selected answer, with a 37.6%) and their frequency of interaction slightly less frequent (94.9% selected once every 10 days or more often, being once a week the most selected answer, with a 29.9%). These results allowed shaping the final vCoP framework. Limitations include potential sampling bias due to the recruitment platforms and digital competences requirements. Despite these limitations, the findings provide valuable insights for developing virtual cooperative learning spaces in the physiotherapy field.

Keywords: Community of Practice, Learning, Pain, Physiotherapy.