Problem-solving in physiotherapy--physiotherapists' talk about encounters with patients with non-specific low back pain.
OBJECTIVE
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.


METHODS
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.
School of Health Sciences, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden. irene.josephson@hhj.hj.se
Iréne
I
Josephson
Berith
B
Hedberg
Pia
P
Bülow
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003657:Decision Making; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008297:Male; D010358:Patient Participation; D057240:Patient Preference; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D059825:Physical Therapists / Q000523:psychology*; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011340:Problem Solving; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D013548:Sweden; D014742:Videodisc Recording