Article

PURPOSE: To investigate how physiotherapists talk about the choice of
intervention for patients with NSLBP, particularly how professionals manage
clinical encounters that may be experienced as challenging. METHOD: Discourse
analysis was performed of four focus groups' talk. Twenty-one experienced
physiotherapists working in primary health care in southern Sweden participated.
RESULTS: Four focal themes appeared: Responsibility for health and health-related
problems; Normalization - what counts as a normal back pain problem in relation
to living an ordinary life; Change process - how to lead one's life; and
Individualization of the intervention in relation to the individual patient but
also from the physiotherapists' point of view. The themes shape an over-arching
pattern of Problem-solving - which concerned both the professional task and the
back pain problem, and was related to varying case complexity. This may have
implications for the intervention the individual patient will be offered and on
outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Physiotherapists' attitudes and approaches seem to entail
components of professional and personal values which may influence patients'
access to health care, with a risk for unequal assessment and intervention as a
consequence. We argue that enhanced physiotherapist-patient collaboration,
including patient-led problem-investigation, is a prerequisite for improved
outcome in terms of patient satisfaction, and for physiotherapy development.
Future investigations of patients' roles in specific face-to-face encounters are
needed.

Langue : ANGLAIS