Measuring therapeutic relationship in physiotherapy: conceptual foundations

Area of Science:

• Physiotherapy
• Health Psychology
• Patient-Therapist Interaction

Background:

• The patient-physiotherapist therapeutic relationship is vital for healing.
• Current measurement tools are often adapted from psychotherapy, lacking physiotherapy-specific conceptual grounding.
• Growing research interest necessitates a dedicated, well-founded measure for this relationship.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the need for a conceptually strong measure of the therapeutic relationship in physiotherapy.
• To introduce and discuss Miciak's physiotherapy therapeutic relationship framework as a foundation for measurement development.
• To explore approaches for developing and refining therapeutic relationship measures informed by Miciak's framework.

Main Methods:

• Literature review on current therapeutic relationship measurement in physiotherapy.
• Introduction and conceptual analysis of Miciak's physiotherapy therapeutic relationship framework.
• Discussion of measurement development approaches informed by the proposed framework.

Main Results:

• Current physiotherapy therapeutic relationship measures are largely adapted from psychotherapy.
• Miciak's framework provides a solid, physiotherapy-specific conceptual foundation for measurement.
• The framework's key concepts can guide the development of new measurement tools.

Conclusions:

• A physiotherapy-specific conceptual framework is essential for accurate therapeutic relationship measurement.
• Miciak's framework offers a robust foundation for developing valid and reliable assessment tools.
• Addressing challenges in measurement development will enhance understanding and application of the therapeutic relationship in physiotherapy.