Evaluative language in physiotherapy practice: How does it contribute to the therapeutic relationship?

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Health Sciences
• Discourse Analysis

Background:

• The therapeutic relationship is crucial in physiotherapy, yet its establishment and enactment are not fully understood.
• Examining how therapists and patients use evaluative language offers insight into their interactions and the therapeutic relationship.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the language and function of evaluation in physiotherapy consultations.
• To investigate how therapists and patients use Appraisal Theory sub-systems (Affect, Judgment, Appreciation) in their interactions.

Main Methods:

• Discourse analysis of 18 physiotherapy consultations from primary healthcare and hospital rehabilitation settings in Sweden and Australia.
• Application of Appraisal Theory to categorize and analyze evaluative language used by therapists and patients.

Main Results:

• Both therapists and patients utilize Affect, Judgment, and Appreciation, but with functional differences.
• Therapists heavily employ Judgment and Appreciation to co-construct patient history and problems.
• Patient Affect evaluations, particularly regarding pain and loss of capacity, are often not addressed by therapists.

Conclusions:

• Patients engage with the therapeutic relationship both clinically and interpersonally.
• Therapists tend to focus more narrowly on clinical tasks, potentially overlooking patient emotional expressions.
• Findings have implications for understanding and teaching the therapeutic relationship in physiotherapy.