Background. Evidence-based practice aims to improve patient care and service delivery, particularly in the management of individuals with low back pain, the largest client group seen by out-patient physiotherapists. Objective: This study determined the prevalence of use of interventions with evidence of effectiveness in the management of acute non-specific low back pain by physiotherapists. Methods. A multi-centered cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 physiotherapists working with low back pain patients. Using a telephone-administered interview, therapists described their current and desired treatment practices for a typical case of low back pain. Each intervention reported was coded according to its evidence of effectiveness (strong, moderate, limited or none) as per Van Tulder's rating system. Information on clinician, workplace and client characteristics was also obtained. Results. The prevalence of use of interventions with strong or moderate evidence of effectiveness was 68%. Almost all therapists use interventions with limited or no evidence of effectiveness or moderate evidence of ineffectiveness. Users of interventions with high evidence of effectiveness, as compared to non-users, had graduated more recently (p = 0.0098) and had taken a higher number of post-graduate clinical courses (p = 0.0091). Conclusion. Although most therapists use interventions with high evidence of effectiveness, much of their treatment programs consist of interventions that are not well studied in the literature.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.80333 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Mikhail, Christine |
| Contributors | Korner-Bitensky, Nicol (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (School of Physical and Occupational Therapy.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002141487, proquestno: AAIMQ98702, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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