Reasons of drop-out from rehabilitation in patients of Turkish and Moroccan origin with chronic low back pain in The Netherlands: a qualitative study.
OBJECTIVE
To explore which factors led to drop-out in patients of Turkish and Moroccan origin with chronic non-specific low back pain who participated in a rehabilitation programme.


METHODS
Patients of Turkish or Moroccan origin with chronic non-specific low back pain (n = 23) from 2 rehabilitation centres and 4 rehabilitation departments of general hospitals in the Netherlands.


METHODS
In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients of Turkish and Moroccan origin (n = 23), rehabilitation physicians (n = 8) and rehabilitation therapists (n = 2). Interviews were transcribed or summarized and subsequently coded and analysed according to themes.


RESULTS
Most patients dropped out due to expectations of a specific medical diagnosis and pain relief as the main aims of rehabilitation treatment. Other reasons for drop-out detected in the interviews were: lack of acknowledgement of the patient's complaints, lack of trust in the rehabilitation physician, contradicting views to those of the physician from the patients' country of origin with regard to the cause and treatment of pain, and communication problems.


CONCLUSIONS
The major reason for drop-out was patients having different expectations, from those of their health providers, of the aim of treatment, as a result of a different view of the origin and treatment of low back pain.
Sloots
Maurits
M
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Jan van Breemen Institute for Rheumatology and Rehabilitation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. m.sloots@janvanbreemen.nl
Dekker
Jos H M
JH
Pont
Menno
M
Bartels
Edien A C
EA
Geertzen
Jan H B
JH
Dekker
Joost
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003144:Communication Barriers; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups; D009018:Morocco / Q000208:ethnology; D009426:Netherlands / Q000208:ethnology; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey / Q000208:ethnology